Avira
by Devgil
Summary: Alone and seemingly forgotten at Privet Drive following Sirius's death, Harry is steadily falling into depression. With Sirius now gone though, the final act of two infinitely caring parents is about to trigger something beyond his imagining. HP/Valdemar.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way attempt to claim ownership over the intellectual property or written works of JK Rowling and Mercedes Lackey. I thank both authors profusely for the wonderful worlds they have created for me (and the rest of the FF community) to play with.

**AN: **Sometimes I wonder if my mind hates me. You know, I have several other pieces that I'm trying to work on and off it goes and gives me something new. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this opening. More comments at the end.

* * *

The street was silent. Not even animals seemed willing to venture there, not tonight. A presence hovered over Little Whinging on this night. But this presence had been clever, it had built up its influence so slowly, taking years to perfect its control. And in taking that time, it had cloaked itself against all but the most paranoid of searchers. All so far who had looked beyond the uneasiness it created had dismissed it as the 'wards' around one of the houses in the area. And now it was ready and there was no longer a need to hide what it could do. The magical currents of the area fluxed, power far beyond what they were used to pouring through them. A web of invisible magic wrapped around Privet Drive, discreetly cutting it off from the rest of the world and in the darkness of one of the houses bedrooms a young man jolted into wakefulness.

Silver light shattered the darkness above the houses, a silent explosion of power to draw out the Order 'watchers'. A man sprang out from a patch on nothingness, an unearthly blue eye locking onto the light. Another man, this one younger with red hair, appeared from beneath a clump of bushes in one of the house's gardens. Both raised small sticks of wood to aim at the light. Both opened their mouths to utter incantations. Both fell within moments of each other. The light faded, flicked through the rainbow and imploded on itself as a sleek black car pulled up beside the fourth house on the street. A man dressed in a black suit exited the rear door of the vehicle and walked up to the door of the house before him and knocking twice. There was the sound of movements, a light clicked on in the hall before the door opened to reveal a walrus like man. "If it's double glazing or _anything_ like it I don't want to know." He said gruffly as he took in the man's appearance. Smart clothes and more than that, normal ones. Nothing like what those strange 'wizards' wore. The man smiled disarmingly as he replied.

"Nothing so mundane I'm afraid. This _is_ No. Four Privet Drive, current residence of the Dursley's?"

"Yes." Vernon answered gruffly. "What is it, have we won something?" His eyes took on a look of greedy anticipation.

"I'm afraid not sir." Came the smooth answer. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is also the current residence of one Harry James Potter?" He saw Vernon's face start to close. "Please sir. I just need to talk to Mr Potter. I need to discuss a few things with him." He smiled again and held out his hand. "My name is Mr Darnell and there are a few things that need to be brought to the attention of your," he paused, as if considering the word to use, "ah...lodger?"

Quite taken aback by the man's calm courtesy, Vernon found himself nodding to him and gesturing him into the house.

"It isn't much, but if you need to talk privately you could take the dining room." Vernon offered, indicating the door.

"That would be much appreciated Mr Dursley." Mr Darnell answered, bowing his head slightly in thanks, ice blue eyes glinting. "If you would be so kind as to bring Mr Potter down to see me, I will get what I need from my car." Taking the wordless grunt he got in response as an affirmative, the well dressed man walked out to his car where he collected a slim briefcase before making his way to the dining room where he met Mr Dursley a second time.

"The boy's in there." He grunted. "Just tell me when you're done."

"There won't be a need for that Mr Dursley." He replied

"Hmph. And why would that be?" Vernon asked quickly, suddenly suspicious but far too late. The man's hands flicked suddenly and he went completely limp.

"I'll let myself out Mr Dursley" Darnell said softly as he felt the sleep spell settle over the other two mundanes in the house. Flicking a finger at the man before him to stop him falling, he turned and entered the dining room and taking a seat opposite from the sixteen year old across from him.

"Mr Potter. It is excellent to meet you at last. You will not believe the trouble I have had to go to to arrange a meeting with you." He was not attempting to sound parental, his voice was calm and businesslike. " My name is Mr Darnell and I have some information that I think you will want to see. It regards your parents and it is absolutely vital you get it considering what has happened over the last year." He saw Harry's eyes light slightly at the mention of his parents before dulling at the reminder.

"You mean Sirius dying, don't you?" He asked, voice flat.

"I'm sorry that I have to bring that up Mr Potter. Truly, I am. But he was the only person except me who could have told you. As the only other people who knows the truth seem universally unwilling or unable to tell you it, it now falls to me."

"And who exactly _are_ you Mr Darnell?" Harry replied darkly. "Considering I have at least one Dark Lord out to kill me, I think I should know who you are." The man smiled slightly.

"Good. Regardless of how much he's tried, he hasn't managed to work that out of you." The man replied with a slight chuckle. "My name is Avira Darnell and seventeen years ago I was entrusted with a copy of your parent's will. There have been several minor and one major violation of the contract it represented by several parties and as the last surviving bearer of it I am now empowered to inform you of it's contents. I hoped that Padfoot would have managed to tell you before he was lost to the Veil, but when he fell the emergency clause of this will was activated."

"Well, I had wondered." Harry replied, his voice again dead. "Now that I think about it, I was never shown what my parents left to me. But," suspicion bled into his voice and Avira Saw his hand grasp his wand underneath the table, "you expect me to believe you when you haven't done anything to make me do so. Sure, you can say all the pretty things you like, but you could be anyone."

"Harry, sorry, may I call you Harry?" At his curt nod, Avira continued. "I know I could be anyone. And you're right, I haven't given you any reason to trust me. But by now I believe you know about how to ensure I am who and what I say I am." His hands moved slightly, flicking through a complicated pattern and Harry's eyes widened slightly before his own hand – the other still grasping his wand – responded. "Now will you trust me to be who I say I am?" he asked gently.

"I...well, I can't really say no to that now can I." Harry said, a trace of humour edging in to cover suspicion. " If you had tried to lie you wouldn't still be talking to me. I'll listen to what you have to say Avira."

"Thank you Harry. Now for this, I'm afraid I need to put on my official hat." He placed his briefcase on the table. "You might have heard of these cases, but if not, this is a _Curorreus_ case." At Harry's gasp, he smiled slightly once more. "I see you _have_ heard of them. This case contains what I believe to be the last surviving original of your parent's will and is spelled to require the willingly given blood of both a Potter and an Evans. As you are both, you can open this case with a single offering of your own blood. Nothing else can open it and it has remained unopened since I was given it by your parents seventeen years ago. He took a ceremonial dagger, inscribed with the Potter-Evans crest, from an inside pocket of his suit and handed it to Harry. "As the only living child of James Potter and Lily Evans, only you can open this case. Do you so wish?" He intoned. Harry felt something swirling within him, something powerful straining against the bonds that held it.

"I so wish." He raised his hand over the case and the dagger sliced effortlessly through his skin. "By the right of blood I may reveal its contents." He made a fist of his hand and allowed the blood to drip onto the case. The clasps snapped open and Harry raised the lid with his other hand.

Light fountained up out of the case, building up into a pillar and Avira whispered an oath as Power poured out it. The ball of energy aligned itself, focusing on Harry and Avira Saw tendrils of shining Power leap out to the boy, grasping his mind. Harry felt the power touch him, slicing down through his soul to find his essence. He gasped as it plumbed him to his depths, reaching deep, deep down into recesses he never knew existed. And the old magic inside him, the magic that no one outside of the Potter _blood_ line ever learnt of, sprang to life. He felt the connection between him and Power of the will touch that magic, coaxing it into wakefulness. The light above the case spun out around him into a ring of incandescent light and Avira suddenly realised what was about to happen. Seizing a node he tied his shields into it and covered his eyes as blinding fire exploded out of the ground around Harry. The edge of the storm of Power grazed the his shields, sending him reeling, but that was only the edge. Harry, at the centre of the storm, felt the energy erupt beneath him and almost screamed as it sprang up to consume him. Except, it didn't burn. He somehow felt the ring around him, flexing beneath the torrent of energy, but holding. He saw the storm around him fuse into the ring and then stream into him. Fire poured into his mind, following the pathways the magic of the will had connected. He felt the Power enter those pathways, forcing them open as more Power hammered into his soul. Knowledge poured through the connection too, riding the flow of energy as it lowered slowly. The Power around him subsided, fusing into the ring around him that flowed back into the orb it had been before. The orb dropped back into the case, and it snapped shut.

Avira lowered his hands, very slowly allowing his Mage-sight to open again. He released his hold on the node, allowing the power he had taken to flow back into it first and then looked to Harry. He saw the teenager looking around him wildly. A quick Look at him showed that his magical channels had been opened to the point where they couldn't safely open further. This seemed to have given the young man quite keen Mage-sight. But there was far more than that. Beneath the gilding of Mage-sight, Avira saw the tell-tales of the very, _very_ powerful Empathic Gift he had seen in James. :_Dear Goddess_: he thought, slightly stunned by what the Power-storm had unlocked :_if he _ever_ loses control around people without shields. I was only meant to deliver this...but I have to help him train his Gift. If I don't the consequences will be devastating._: He sighed, a gift this powerful would take years to properly train, but he really didn't have a choice.

"Harry, are you all right?" He asked softly.

"Um....I think so. But what's all this stuff around you?" Harry asked, distinctly confused.

"That Power-storm awoke two things in you Harry. The first was what you are noticing now. It's called Mage-sight. It allows you to See magic. What you can see around me are my passive shields. When we go outside, you will be able to See the wards around this house and shields I placed around the area so that we could talk uninterrupted." He paused, a frown suddenly tugging at his lips. "And...speaking of which." He winced slightly. "We should really be going before Albus and that altogether lovely Order of his manage to break them." His brow tightened in sudden concentration. "I've removed the Trace from your wand, you can freely cast now." Harry couldn't move fast enough, he ran up to his bedroom, barely pausing at his uncle slumped against the wall outside the dining room. Waving his wand at the room, he muttered a charm and everything flew into his trunk. He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak from the top, slammed the trunk shut and shrunk it to the size of a match-box before hastily stuffing it into his pocket. On the way down, he _did_ notice Vernon and ground to a sudden halt as he saw the weak veil of what he assumed to be an enchantment. He glanced questioningly at Avira. "A sleeping spell only, to ensure that we could talk in private." He explained quickly, pulling him towards the door. "Come, we have to hurry." His entire face was strained, incredible concentration evident on every facet of it. Harry rushed through the door, closely followed by Avira. He looked at the car.

"Are we taking that?" He said, disbelieving.

"Nothing so mundane Harry." Avira replied quickly, hands groping at the air before him, weaving a circle of light in the air. "Now, when I get his open I want you to get through it Harry. I'm setting it to take you to a sanctuary of mine. Just don't touch anything. I'll be along after I've explained a few things to Dumbledore." He waved his hand savagely as Harry started to protest. "No. This is something that I have to do. I can get away by myself, but I wouldn't be able to get both of us past all of them." His head jerked in the direction of the entrance to Privet Drive. Harry spun, looking towards it to see Dumbledore, just about the entire Order of the Phoenix and a _lot_ of what looked like Aurors. On his facing them, most of them started yelling at Harry for him to run to them, to get away from the man beside him. Ignoring their false cries, he Saw Dumbledore start pounding away at the shields Avira had erected. His examination of multi-layered system was cut off though, as they vanished at Avira's triumphant hiss. "Got it! Had to let the shields go down, but no matter." He turned quickly to Harry as the horde of people at the opening to Privet Drive started sprinting for them. "Get out of here, I'll be along in a bit." He gestured at the shimmering circle that held a picture of another place. "Just _don't_ touch anything." Harry clasped hands with him quickly, then ran through the Gate as the first stunner slashed past them. Avira let the Gate collapse, no point in letting a spell through, and tapped into the node beneath him.

The hundred strong – at least – group of wizards surrounded him easily and Dumbledore stepped out from them to face him.

"I don't care who you are, but you will bring Harry Potter back, unharmed, or face the full might of the International Wizarding Confederation. As Head of that body, I will utilize every resource at my disposal to extract the location of Harry Potter from you!" He carefully modulated his voice into an artful mix of anger and sorrow. "You have one chance to-"

"You know, where do you get it? Is it some sort of genetic defect that makes you turn _every single confrontation_ you have into a speech?" Avira said mockingly and gestured at the people around him. "And you, you _let_ him get away with this grandstanding? Is it something in the water around here?"

"Albus Dumbledore is a great wizard! He has that rig-" Molly Weasley yelled, building up towards a true Weasley rant before she was cut off.

"He has _what_? A _right_ to do so?" Avira repeated incredulously . "Goddess, you actually believe that claptrap don't you?"

"Why you-!"

"What?" He asked, this time his voice afire with condescension. "What am I? Apart from ruggedly handsome and a more powerful sorcerer than your vaunted 'Dumbledore' will ever be."

"I am giving you one last chance young man," Dumbledore said kindly, but with steel behind the voice. "Bring Harry back or I will be forced to take you into custody."

"What, you and your army of tin soldiers? Try it!" Avira answered contemptuously as he locked his connection to the node with his shields.

"Very well." Dumbledore said sadly. "I did not want to do this. Take him."

Spells slashed in at Avira from all around him, stunners, body-binds, blasting hexes, everything short of Unforgivable curses, impacting on the sparkle in the air that were his shields. The air filled with spell-fire, splashing away at them. Avira shut his eyes as Power poured in on the unending barrage of magic. His brow clenched with concentration once more, absorbing the power and focusing it. More and more energy streamed in from over a hundred of some of most powerful duellists in the Wizarding World. Dumbledore, his voice barely audible over the incantations, exhorted his followers on to even greater efforts and Avira smiled a dark smile. His left hand twisted upwards into a fist, using the motion to further focus the horrendously intense currents building around him.

"Silence!" His fist sprang open, Power locking down the vocal cords of the wizards around him. His hand snapped out in a sweeping gesture, sending a shock-wave of light tearing through them and throwing them to the ground.

"Dumbledore! Your efforts are admirable, but ultimately useless I'm afraid. I'll meet you again someday, maybe then you'll have worked out how I did this." Avira's clear voice echoed across the street, reaching the ears of every wizard. "Meanwhile, I leave you with something that should keep even _you_ occupied for a time." Silver fire ignited around him, building up into a spire of roiling Power. Dumbledore had just enough time to venture a guess at what was about to happen and desperately attempt to raise a shield. He wasn't quick enough.

White fire shattered the night, an immeasurable detonation of Power that tore at the Earth itself. For a moment, Little Whinging became little more than light, fire and sound as Avira lashed out with the energy he had absorbed from the wizarding assault. The mage-blast tore the area apart, flattening every building within a fifteen mile radius and damaging ones almost twenty five miles out.. But amazingly, when the search and rescue teams had finished combing the area they found that there had not been a _single_ casualty. At least, no physical ones. But for the white bearded man laid out unconscious at the centre of a huge, distinctly magical, explosion the consequences were only starting to unfold.

Avira watched as teams of Obliviators swept the area for people who had witnessed whatever had happened, a separate team from the DMLE scooping up Dumbledore and his compatriots. A slight smile graced his lips as a ring of light flowed into existence before him. "Well, old man." He said softly. "I hope you have a good time explaining _this_." He stepped through the Gate and it imploded into nothingness, leaving no sign of his presence. Only silence.

**AN:** Ok, I need to get a few things out of the way here to stop possible mobbing. This is in no way going to be a super-Harry fic. Neither is Avira going to be able to do what he did here much. He's very powerful, yes, but that power does have limits. Those limits will be sounded out in later chapters, as will the explanations to just exactly what the will awakened in Harry. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it and please leave a review on your way out.

Wind to thy wings.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Mari, I'm glad I caught your interest. Hopefully this chapter will explain just what Avira is. Dreamweaver. Yes! Yes! Yes! There are other people like me! *Returns high-pitched squeal*

I'm really happy you liked it and agree completely with your sentiments considering HP and Velgarth comparison. There just _isn't_ one. I'm afraid you're probably not going to see any of the character's from the books as I really don't think I could _ever_ do them justice. I might have one or two appear....but that's down the line for me. As you'll work out from this, it's Post-Storms. How far....well that you can decide for yourself :p Kitty, that second talk we had last night has solidified a lot of the plot to the next few chapters into something I can use. Thanks for everything.

* * *

Harry fell through the Gate terminus, senses reeling from the shock of the Void. The world spun around him as he hit the ground, the impact shocking him slightly back into reality but making his eyes water.

"Dammit!"A distinctly feminine voice quietly, gentle arms lifting him up off the floor and laying him out on a 'bed' of cushions. "I'm sorry," she continued in the same calm voice, "I really _did_ mean to catch you but you came through so fast. I'm surprised you didn't _really_ hurt yourself." Harry's vision cleared as he blinked the water out of them to reveal a shockingly beautiful woman who seemed far too young for the white hair that fell to her waist. Attempting to clear his throat, he groaned as his stomach attempted to rebel again.

"What the hell was that?" He asked weakly.

"You mean the Gate?"

"If that's the thing that brought me here, yes." In response to which he got a soft laugh.

"Well, I _could_ give you the technical explanation, but I don't think you want to know." She said, blue eye's sparkling with mischief. "I take it Avi 'forgot' to tell you what to expect." She sighed as he nodded. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to kill him..." she whispered detachedly before focusing on Harry again, something he was really beginning to enjoy. "You're Lily's kid, right?" She didn't wait for a response. "What you're dealing with currently is a combination of Void exposure coupled with an untrained Gift. And on top of that, your magic seems to be throwing a small fit over being thrown about like it just was."

"And you call that _not_ really hurting myself." Harry responded faintly, "And where am I? All I got told was that the...Gate, that is what you called it? The Gate was set to take me to a sanctuary."

"Compared to some things I've seen result from Gate travel, this is _mild_ Harry. As to where you are," She paused, considering what to say. "you _are_ in a sanctuary. As to where that sanctuary actually is...I think that's something that Avi should be explaining to you." She reached out to touch his forehead, her cool hand soothing him. "For now, you need to rest. Everything else can wait." She concentrated slightly and Harry's head fell back as a mental command dropped him into slumber. She waved a hand at the mage-lights around her, damping their brilliance, and then turned her concentration back to her charge.

***

Harry awoke to warmth and soft voices close by, talking about him.

"I thought you said you only had to deliver what they gave you. You never said anything about _this_." That was the woman from after the...Gate and if he never went through one of them again it would be too soon.

"How could I, Elani? You must have Looked at him." Avira responded.

"Well...yes, but that doesn't advocate -"

"El, it would have been a violation of everything I _am_ to leave him there. You've sat in on some of my scrying sessions, you _know_ what that manipulative _kadessa_ has planned for him. With a Gift of that strength.." He let his voice trail off, allowing his companion to think about the consequences.

"All right, I knew from the moment I Saw that Gift you wouldn't be able to turn him away. I just-"

"I know, love. Now as he's awake again, I think he needs an explanation of what I've done though."

"You think?" Elani teased as they approached Harry and settled on either side of him. "Come on Harry, we know you're awake."

"And as you heard every word of our discussion, I think you know what we're here to talk about too.

Harry let his eye's flicker open, wiping away sleep-sand with one hand whilst the reached out to-

"Where are my glasses?" He asked suddenly, not finding them within arm's reach. A hand touched his, returning the battered frames to him.

"Sorry, we just wanted them out of reach so you couldn't damage them. We didn't know how much you moved in your sleep." Avira's voice said calmly as Harry slid the glasses on and sat up slowly.

"You said something about an explanation?" He asked quickly.

"Yes. I'm afraid I might have taken certain liberties where you're concerned. I basically forced you through that Gate without telling you anything about where you were going." Avira said apologetically, "I really thought I knew what I was doing, but I might have just cut you off from most of the people you've been friends with for the past five years." Harry let him sweat for a few seconds and then waved it aside.

"It's no real heart-ache considering what my parent's will had to say about a lot of those 'friends' and the families they belonged to. What I really want to know about is the other Gift you said their will awakened in me. You did say it awakened two."

"Yes, yes I did Harry." Avira replied, suddenly very serious. "This is really more Elani's field than mind though, so I waited to get back here before trying to explain it." He gestured at the woman who had caught Harry. "El, if you would?" She gave him a muted glare, softening it with a smile.

"If I must." She sighed dramatically. "All right Harry, the second Gift that the Power-storm Avira told me about unlocked was a very strong two-way Empathic Gift. Before I go into specifics, I need to ask you. What do you know about Empaths in your world?"

"I...I've picked up a few things, they're supposed to be able to feel other people's emotions or something like that. But...what do you mean by 'my world?" He said, lurching to his feet and brushing away Elani's restraining hands. His entire body felt like it had been hit by a jelly-legs hex, but he forced himself across the room, both his hosts springing to their feet as he reached the window. His eyes took in the huge trees, their type so out of keeping with the warm wind against his face. The dwellings built about their massive trunks and the not-people mixed with the humans he could see from his vantage point. "Sweet Merlin." He whispered. He felt his legs begin to give way, a grey haze clouding his vision.

"_Sheka_! Not again!" Elani cursed as she and Avira leapt across the distance between them as Harry collapsed on the floor of their _ekele_.

***

"You know, I think I finally understand what Avi meant when he said you were as bad as a Herald." Elani's admonished as Harry as he rose back into the waking world.  
"What's a Herald?" He asked, his voice hoarse from lack of water.

"Nothing you need to know about." She replied quickly. "Now, drink this." She handed him a glass. "That stunt you pulled has had you out for almost two days, I thought I told you that you needed to rest."

"But I needed to know where I was...." His voice trailed off at her look. "Ok...I should have asked you to let me see."

"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" She said cheerfully as he drained the last of the water from the cup she had given him. "Now. I think I was about to try explaining that Gift your father gave you before you decided to stagger across the room and collapse." He opened his mouth to protest and then closed it as she gave him another look. "But as you've seen the Vale, I think you need that explained first." :_Avi, get in here, I may need some help in explaining this_: she Called. Harry's head snapped up.

"What was that?" He snapped. "Didn't you feel it?" She openly stared at him. He couldn't be sensing her call, could he? Well, there was only one way to find out. :_Avi, I think he can sense Mindspeech__. Get up here _now_._: She watched very closely as her charge jumped again.

"What _is_ that?" He exclaimed, his voice sharper now and she shook her head. "What?" He asked.

"Well...that hasn't happened for a while." She answered cryptically. "You sensed me using Mindspeech Harry. It's nothing to worry about, but it means your Gift is incredibly receptive. I was shielding my second Call and you still heard it."

"Mindspeech? You mean something like telepathy?"

"I'm not sure, I don't know a huge amount about your world I'm afraid." She replied softly, unused to not knowing answers.

"That's an excellent analogy Harry, but it's not quite that simple." Avira said for her, walking in from the ramp beside the _ekele_. "Mindspeech, and Mind-magic as a whole is a very complicated Art. From what you were asking, I take it El was right when she told me you could sense us Talking."

"I think so. I couldn't make out any words...but I knew _something_ was happening." Harry ventured, trying to explain exactly what he had felt. "It's very confusing."

Elani smiled at him. "Good, you _are_ human after all." She laughed at his bemused glance. "Now that we've got _that_ out of the way, I think we were about to explain where you are."

"You said something about a Vale," Harry prompted.

"Yes. You are currently in one of the three _k'Leshya_ Vales that have been established so far." Avira said, a touch of pride in his voice. "I'm afraid that when I told you that the Gate was set to a sanctuary, I didn't exactly tell you how far away it was. You're in the Pelagiris Forest, not more than a few leagues from the Pelagir hills. I know you won't have heard of this place, but I thought you could use a reference point." At Harry's tentative nod, he continued. "I am so sorry for what I did Harry, but I had to get you somewhere completely out of Dumbledore's reach. That meant bringing you here, I didn't want to risk harming anyone if Dumbledore found us before you had your Gift under control. Empathy is a very dangerous Gift Harry." His voice turned very serious. "I've seen the Cruciatus Curse that your world calls unforgivable. Let me tell you this, the effects of that curse are nothing compared to what an Empath can do. I'm going to be telling you this from now until you're able to fully control it, so you're going to need to get used to it. Empathy is _**not**_ something you play about with."

"Avi's right Harry. When used wrongly, Empathy can be used to tear people apart emotionally and worse. The first thing I did when you got here was to partially lock your gift down." He looked accusingly at her, but she didn't back down. "Harry, if I hadn't you could've been seriously hurt when you woke up. You don't have anything in the way of shields and I doubt many people have strong enough Mind-shields to prevent you picking something up. And _you_ could have damaged them if you thought they were invading your mind and lashed out in defence." He looked at her reproachfully for a few seconds before folding.

"I may not like people playing with my head, but I can accept the reasons behind why you did this. You didn't want me or others hurt."

"Exactly." She paused. "I _am_ sorry about doing so, but as I said.." Her voice trailed off as Harry nodded.

"I know and I _do_ understand. It's just that a lot of people seem to have been playing with my head." He said sadly and Avira squeezed his shoulder gently.

"It's going to hurt kid, I'd be a liar if I said otherwise. But you still have some friends in Hogwarts." He sighed as Harry looked at him. "Do you honestly believe everyone you knew was a spy?" He chuckled. "What about Hermione? Or Luna and Neville? Last year, who convinced you that you weren't going to the Department of Mysteries without them?"

"I-"

"Exactly. You have friends there, one or two that are completely out of the control of that manipulative old coot. And we can't keep you here, there are far too many people who would do everything in their power to get their hands on your type of magic."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, our magic is different from yours in many ways, but it's alike enough to be compatible. And _that_," He pointed at Harry's wand, "could give an Apprentice the powers of an Adept. If the secret of how to make them fell into the hands of a blood-path mage, we'd never be able to stop them. I wish I _could_ keep you here, but I don't think you actually want to stay here either. You'd be abandoning everything you knew and regardless of what Dumbledore _has_ lied to you about, Trelawney's prophecy was true. Voldemort cannot die whilst you live." Harry's mouth had started to open to voice a protest, but the last part of Avira's speech snapped it shut. His eyes clouded with repressed rage and he slumped back into the cushions around him.

"So I can stay here and leave the entire world to suffer until I die, or I can go back to face Dumbledore and his merry crew? When faced with that, there really isn't much of a choice. And damn you if you didn't know it!" Harry snapped venomously.

"Harry-" Elani began soothingly.

"Damn it! Why must _I_ always be in the middle of something like this! Why did this have to happen to me! He shouted suddenly, springing to his feet and punching a cushion across the room. "I mean _come on_! Can't I have a break at least _once_ in my life?"

They both looked at him, sorrow emanating from their eyes. Such sorrow that it rendered his anger inert. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken that out on you." He hung his head.

"No Harry," Avira said, laying his hand on Harry's shoulder again. "You needed that. And better that you did it to people who can shield against an Empath than ripping someone's mind to shreds."

"Avi's right Harry. You were throwing all your pent up feelings at us when you were shouting. We can protect ourselves...but very few in your world can and none completely."

"But, what if this happens when I go back. How will I stop myself hurting people?" Harry asked, the implications of his Gift finally starting to sink in.

"We'll help you Harry." Avira replied. At Harry's questioning look, he continued. "Elani and I decided last night. You may be the person your world needs, but no one in that world understands Mind-magic. You need training, and you're going to need help becoming what your world needs."

"And that," Elani said comfortingly, "is where _we_ come in. Your Gift will need years of training for you to come to fully understand and be able to control it. And it would go against everything the Clans stand for to abandon you."  
"But how will you be able to be with me? You can't just waltz into Hogwarts an-" Harry's voice cut off again in a gasp of shock as the people before him shimmered and changed.

"Glamour charms Harry. Our magic, it won't be detectable by yours." Elani continued in a different voice. "We travelled to Hogwarts last night like this and applied for some positions there. You are now speaking to your new DADA teacher and your auxiliary nurse. The Ministry decided that they needed one after all the problems they've been having there."

"But....you need records. And you don't know the first _think_ about wand magic Avira, you don't even have a _wand_!"

"There's almost nothing that can't be bought Harry. Identities are cheap, even in the magical world." Elani answered mischievously. "As for Avi's...shortcomings," she laughed aloud as he glared at her, "we were hoping that you might know someone who could help him learn enough to manage the younger classes." And Harry himself laughed at the look on Avira's face.

"Well...Charlie Weasley maybe. He works with dragons and if he doesn't know enough about defence, I don't think anyone will. If, of course, he's safe."

"Charlie actually left the country to get away from Dumbledore's schemes. He knew what was happening and was clever enough to be able to get out before he got too deep." Avira said. "Good choice Harry."

"Now." Elani dismissed the glamours and led him to a table where a meal was laid out for three. "You need a good meal and have a proper night's sleep. We can talk about all of this tomorrow." She sat down, half dragging Harry down with her and Avira joined them.

"And then we can get working on your Gift. We might not be able to give you years of training, but I think we can get you trained to shield before we have to return."

"Don't forget your lessons though." Harry said cheekily, eliciting a laugh from his hosts. Never before had he felt such peace. He knew he was safe here, with his new friends and teachers. And life, for a time at least, was good.

* * *

**AN:** And there we have it folks. I hope this answers most of your questions and more than that, I hope it works. A lot of this chapter demanded several re-writes and I was worried it might take longer for me to complete than it did. Luckily I had a – relatively – clear head today and managed to work through the rest of it. Enjoy and please leave a review on your way out.

Wind to thy wings


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Mari, I'm glad I still have your interest here. Tmazing, thanks for reviewing. Dreamweaver, Velgarth is not going to be an overlap of Earth. I'm not exactly sure how it connects to us, but I should be explaining it later (promise). To your second question...well they're both Adepts. Elani has a mid level Healing Gift on top of her mage Gift and the usual mind-speech. Avira is the more powerful Adept with a slight edge in mind-magic as well (but I can't tell you how or it'll ruin the surprise). As to how they know about Harry and just about everything around him, they've been doing both of the things you suggested. Part of this was the agreement Avira made with James and Lily and part of it is his own wish to help Harry after seeing what's up against him. So yeah, they know a lot about what's going on. And Elani's comment was in regards to how Avira somehow forgot to mention what Harry was about to experience. She means it in jest only, but it shows how annoyed she is.

Also, many thanks to ShinjuKuroba for betaing this for me. You are a lifesaver.

* * *

Harry stood, dressed again in the clothes of his world. The last six weeks had probably been the most tiring 'holiday' in his life. Working non-stop with Elani to get his Gift under at least partial control. Charlie helping Avira with how to teach Defence and sneaking a few lessons to Harry into their tight schedule. And whenever he had any free time that wasn't spent eating or sleeping he would be either learning to fight with Avira, poring over the books Charlie had given him or working through the exact wording of his parent's will that was now indelibly written into his mind. But regardless of the amount of work he had done and the little sleep he had been forced to survive on, Harry had rarely felt happier. He had actually _done_ something this summer that would have a lasting effect on his life, for all that it had been triggered by another.

Harry was eternally grateful for Charlie's help and had said as much only to be met with a muttered disclaimer. But what he had said to Harry after their last session before returning to their world still lingered in his mind. _"Last year, I would have said you didn't have a chance against what was planned out for you." He had paused as his Gate home solidified and he walked towards it. "Now though, now I think that even without the aid of those beside you know, you could fight your way free of the plans that were laid out for you seventeen years ago. You've grown up a _lot_ Harry, and even though so much is set against you, I cannot help but think that you'll come out of this as a true reflection of what James was to my generation. You'll do him and your mother proud."_ Charlie had stepped through the Gate – for some reason he actually seemed to _enjoy_ Gating – to be whisked back to where he belonged.

The ring of light in front of him rippled and fluxed as Avira reached out to a little known and never used room in one of Diagon Alley's many shops. Never used because of the glamour placed on the entrance to it. Harry felt Elani move up beside him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked softly. "It must be at least a _bit_ nerve-racking. He felt her grin, "I mean, imagine how some of your friends are going to react." A frown touched his lips, before smoothing away.

"Well considering what you and the Will showed me, I can guess two of them. Shocked and sullen. The rest..." He suppressed a shudder as he imagined how Hermione would react.

"I take it that was for the benefit of Hermione?" Avira said as the Gate stabilised, his voice laced with amusement. "Well, I guess so," he laughed as Harry shot a glare at him.

"Don't look so surprised Harry, you're fretting like a Hawk-brother over his first eyas." Elani joked, eyes sparkling.

"All _right_!" He half-snapped. "I'm nervous! More than that, I'm absolutely terrified of what's going to happen when I run into whoever it is I run into first." He waved his hand to cut off what they both started to say. "I know, give partial truths. I'm just really worried that I'll give something away. And if I do that, then everythi-" Elani shushed him with one hand.

"Don't worry Harry, just remember what you learnt with me. Keep your Gift open to them and _use_ that sense." She enfolded him in a hug. "Good luck kiddo, we'll see you on the First." She released him, giving him a gentle push towards the Gate and Avira who mimicked her gesture of affection.

"You'll do fine Harry, really. Before you go though, we thought you should have something of ours to keep with you." He reached into his robes and withdrew a sword-belt, handing it to Harry. Avira continued as Harry reverently buckled the belt around him and adjusted the scabbard so that it wouldn't hinder his movement. "That is Elani's gift to you. This is mine." Harry saw a blur of silver flash in Avira's hands and instinctively dropped into a fighting posture.

His jaw dropped. Avira held in his hands a sword that pulsed with latent magic to his Mage-sight. And it was held out to _him_. His throat choked up, voice failing him as completely as his body as his arms came up to take the sword from his teacher. Reality caught up with him.

"Avi....Avira I _can't_. That's an enchanted blade, I know you only have a few. How can I take something like this from yo-Ah!" His left hand had been sliding along the blade of the weapon, almost caressing it and he gasped as one of his fingers slipped onto the edge. A cut opened down the tip, crimson fluid rolling down the blade and Avira smiled.

"I could not take it from you know even if you tried to give it back to me Harry." He said, his voice full of pride. "Your blood is the first it has ever drawn and it will serve no other." Harry stared at him, his eyes sparkling slightly. He wiped the blade on the cloth Avira handed him, then wrapped the blood-stained white silk around the cut. Only then did he notice that the blood flow had slowed as if Healed.

"It's a four-season enchantment Harry." Elani said helpfully. "I think you know what that is now."

"Thank you." He said finally, shaking off his shock and driving the blade home into its sheath. "I shall treasure these always."

"We know Harry." Avira replied, "and this means that a part of us will always be with you, for they can never leave your side." He smiled at his pupil. "Now go, before Elani decides she has to give you another hug. We'll see you in a few days." Harry visibly steeled himself for the Gate, remembering the few trips he had taken through them. He looked back at the two clan-sibs with a smile.

"Yes, I'll see you in a few days. I hope you get settled in OK." He stepped through the Gate and back into the world of his birth.

The Gate transit was nasty, not nearly as bad as the first one, but not particularly fun either. Still, it could have been much worse Harry thought as he shook his head to clear the grey from his vision.

"I am _never_ getting used to those things!" He half-shouted, only then realising that he wasn't sure if the shields around him muted sound. He froze for a few seconds, listening intently. All he heard was the businesslike sounds of Diagon Alley just before the school term_._ Taking the fact that he hadn't been heard as a good sign, he swept his Invisibility Cloak around him – making sure that his scabbard didn't protrude out too far from the rest of his body – and slipped out through the glamour. He moved through the crowd like a wraith, almost dancing between the people around him. Then he noticed the posters. The posters with _his_ face on them. The posters that said MISSING and offered a one hundred thousand Galleon reward to anyone who came forward with information that lead to his recovery. That was when it hit him, he had been away for almost _two months_! His 'dance' slowed, taking him towards a dark alley between two shops. Just short of the opening though, a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Hermione, I know you're worried about him, but Dumbledore and the Ministry have _everything_ they have looking for him. And they comb the Alley every day. What are the chances of _us_ finding him?" Ronald Weasley, his one time best friend, complained as he and his sister trooped down the street behind a familiar, chocolate-eyed brunette. She turned at Ron's comment.

"Just because you're too lazy to look for your 'best mate' doesn't mean I am Ronald."

"But Hermione-"

"Don't you dare 'But Hermione' me!" Hermione Granger, in Harry's unvarnished opinion the brightest witch in a generation, snapped at Ron. "And I don't see any problem with at least _trying_. I mean-" Her voice cut off as they passed the alley that Harry had ducked fully into to hide himself.

Pulling off his Invisibility Cloak and pocketing it, he slipped back into the crowd to follow the three. Sidling up completely unnoticed, he overheard the end of Hermione's rant. "Who knows, he might even come to us first." She finished.

"Hermione, you can't actually expect tha-" Ginny started as Harry laid a hand on her shoulder. She turned towards him, hand moving for her wand. "Now, just what do you wan-" Her voice died in her throat, jaw dropping.

"You know," He said mischievously, delighting in her shock, "I always said you should listen to Hermione." He had just enough time to grin at her amazement before –

"Harry!" – the brown haired whirlwind realised. A year earlier he could have been bowled over by that hug. Now though, after well over a month of regular exercise and sparring he swayed only slightly as Hermione collided with him. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" She whispered to him, before pulling away...and slapping him, hard.

"Hermione!" Ginny and Ron admonished. Ginny, he noticed, was considerably more vehement in her condemnation.

"No." He said firmly, ignoring the fact that the crowd around them had ground to a silent stop. "I really did deserve that." He said contritely. "I'm sorry about not contacting anyone, but it was too dangerous."

"Harry, all of Britain is looking for you! Tonks said that you had been kidnapped by someone! He shoved you through a door made of light and then blew Little Whinging apart. What happened to you? Why haven't you tried to contact anyone! And what abou-" He placed a gentle hand over her mouth, cutting off the stream of questions.

"Slow down" he – only half – begged, "Give a guy a chance. Please?" Hermione glared at him, but relented. "All right."

"I know," he said, choosing his words with care – a silent "now" tacked on in his head, "that a lot of people have been looking for me. But I need training if I'm going to be able to carry out what the prophecy requires of me. So I found someone who was both willing and capable of helping me. I'm sorry that I didn't contact you, but if I did Hedwig could've been tracked to find me and I couldn't let that happen. Where I was is too great a secret to risk a message that could have lead to its discovery. As to what happened to me....suffice to say I have learnt a _lot_ this summer." He seemed about to elaborate, until Ron finally shook himself – partially – out of his shock.

"Harry, where have you been mate?"

"Harry just said! He can't tell u-" Harry almost, _almost_ laughed at the expression on Ron's face as Hermione verbally laid into him. As Ginny started to be drawn into the argument, he pencilled a short note, slipped it into Hermione's pocket and disappeared into the crowd. "-so that's why he can't say! Ok?" Hermione half shouted at Ron before turning back to Harry. "But really Har-" She found herself addressing empty air. She slipped a hand into her robes to grasp her wand but it instead fell upon a small piece of parchment. "Now look what you've done! You scared him away!" She screamed at her companions who cringed as she rounded on them. "Well isn't that just _perfect_!" She spun on her heel and strode into the crowd.

"Hermione! Where are you going?" Ginny asked suddenly, causing her to turn again.

"_I_ am going to go to Flourish and Blotts. I just remembered that I forgot to get one of my Arithmancy books." She replied, keeping her voice as clear of venom as possible. "Now if you will excuse me." She whirled away from the two redheads and vanished into the once again moving crowd.

---------

Carefully unfolding the note between the towering shelves of Flourish and Blotts, Hermione's hands shook slightly as she unwrapped the first real message from her closest friend for the entire summer and looked down at the hand-written scrawl.

_Hermione._

_I'm glad you opened this away from the Weasleys (if you want to know how I know you've done that, I'll tell you later). I need to see you Hermione, and I hope your mind is still the one I know because I'm going to need your help. If you want to meet me – and I hope you do – go to the entrance to Knockturn alley at 4 o'clock today. I will find you there._

_Harry_

Taking a random book from the shelves – Ron would never care to ask about it – she purchased it and then checked her watch. Half past three. She couldn't go back to Ron and Ginny as there probably wouldn't be a way to shake them loose in time. Nor could she just wait at the entrance to Knockturn for half an hour. But what did he mean, "I hope your mind is still the one I know". She sighed, struggling – for one of the few times in her life – to work out what he could have meant by that statement. Resigning herself to the wait, she pulled out the book she had bought (The Intricacies of Runic Enchantment), sat down on a bench outside one of the shops and vanished into the world of runic magic.

Her alarm alerted her to the time twenty minutes later. Shaking herself free of a particularly interesting piece on how the majority of long term wards were anchored, she closed the book and packed it carefully back into her bag. Getting up from the bench, she stretched to relieve the tension in her muscles and then headed for the main entrance to Knockturn Alley.

* * *

**AN:** And there's chapter three at last. I know it's shorter than the other two I've posted so far, but I got to where it ends and the rest of what I had planned ran off and hid in chapter four. Darned Gates....*mutters darkly*. Oh, just to clear this up. Yes, Harry now has a sword which is what Need was before what's-her-name forged herself in the blade. But that is _all _he's getting to help him whilst Avira and Elani are away so I think it's fair (thoughts appreciated though). Regardless, I really do hope I've managed to keep your interest in this story going. It's a joy to write and I would hate to put you off just as things are starting to get good. Please leave a review on the desk as you leave.

Wind to thy wings.


	4. Chapter 4

_**AN:**_ Dreamweaver, yes, yes I did. I hope you like. Gina, great to see such an enthusiastic response. Blah, I don't do sweeping expositions. The will, training and such-like _will_ be covered. It'll just be done in flashbacks (there's one in this very chapter). Kami, there is going to be a pairing here and I'm pretty sure which one it's going to be. I just don't want to say unless I change my mind. I will say this though, it is almost definitely _not_ going to be H/Hr and I don't do slash.

* * *

Harry was in trouble. There were several reasons for this and yet most came down to the same person. First there was the fact that two of his closest friends were now incontrovertibly proven to be traitors and he didn't know if there were more betrayals to come. For not the first time he half-heartedly wished that his Gift wasn't _quite_ so powerful. Through even the shock of seeing him again, Harry had felt a deep and truly saddening hatred directed at him from Ron. It hurt to have the proof shown, especially when the person in question had been a close friend for almost five years. Then there was the confused muddle of feelings he was getting from Ginny. There was a hatred that probably eclipsed that of Ron and yet layered in with that was a frighteningly powerful _lust_ for what Harry was. There wasn't a shred of care for a "Harry" in either of their feelings. Finally – in truth the second problem he was facing – there was Hermione. On seeing her Harry had been distinctly thankful that he had read several books on the modification of enchantments. Harry still didn't know _exactly_ what it was, but he could tell that what he had Seen was anything but an Occlumency shield. He could still see the insidious pattern wrapped around his friend's mind, but that simple Sight gave him an advantage greater than any could imagine. He could See how the spells that constrained her thoughts were built and with that knowledge he could hopefully modify them without changing their outward appearance.

Problem three, the Order of the Phoenix. This was a multi-faceted problem that was going to be very difficult to deal with due to the number of highly skilled wizards who were members. But all of this, all of these problems led back to the same man. Albus Dumbledore. Of course, Tom _was _out there, but he'd been very quiet over the summer. No doubt he was gaining allies, but that took time and that was the one thing he no longer had in his favour. He also wasn't an immediate threat as he would need even more time to put in place a strategy to get to Harry. So the main problems had been outlined. The third obstacle literally couldn't have a quick solution. There were too many people to deal with and breaking the Order's power wasn't going to be possible without breaking Dumbledore's. Neither did the first problem have a clear remedy that didn't involve serious bodily harm or worse. But Hermione was a way into at least one of those problems and Harry was pretty sure that he could break the compulsions on her without actually destroying them. Of course, he needed to disable them before they could be completed and he didn't doubt that Dumbledore wasn't far off doing just that. And that final thought brought him back to the task at hand. Safely breaking those enchantments without alerting anything.

But first, he needed to meet Hermione again and it was for this reason that Harry Potter now found himself leaning idly against the entrance to Knockturn Alley at four pm on the twenty ninth of August. He hadn't liked picking this location, especially due to his Empathy, but it was the only place he knew of where he could slip under the Order's radar. Not because they didn't have watchers here, but because those watchers had so much more to look out for that they shouldn't notice him. The main problem would be concealing Hermione, Harry had changed into a full length hooded cloak before heading to the Alley so he didn't attract much in the way of attention. Quite foolish really, assuming anyone in a face-concealing garment was part of the 'usual' population but then the Order had proven itself to have such blind spots so many times already this didn't surprise him. But back to the problem at hand. Hermione – when she got here – was going to stick out like a rose in a bog. She wouldn't see any reason to conceal her identity and that could come back and bite him later. Hopefully though, he would be able to get her under a cloak before any of the Order spotted her. Keeping one eye on the entranceway, he scanned the area around him for possible watchers. He thought back over the lessons he had been given on this subject, looking for people who were _trying_ to be comfortable or seem casual. There! His eyes narrowed. That was one, but they must have other watchers here...there! Once he had located the first sentry, finding the others was a – relatively – easy task in comparison. He mentally sketched their fields of vision, overlaying the blind spots and locating the best position. A familiar brown haired form appeared down the street and he moved into the crowd, flowing with it towards the watchers whilst he shook a throwing knife from his left arm sheath. It was one of the things he had learnt with Avira and he had found – to his great shock – that he had a fearsome latent talent for the knives. Avira said it was something about the hand-eye required with being a Seeker. His eyes tracked the movement of the target with a cool indifference, lining up for a clear shot that would still conceal his action. There! His hand twitched as he passed a tiny side street, sending a razor edged blade hurtling upwards.

His knife tore through the screens that hid Tonks from view, glancing off her shields before burying itself in the frame of the window she had been watching from. The reaction was instantaneous. He saw the other Order members vanish from their positions and then reappear by the – now ruined – screen and chuckled. He ducked into the side street, muttered a few words to change the colour of his cloak and transfigure one for Hermione before stepping back out onto the street with the other cloak held under one arm like a wrapping. He caught Hermione at the threshold to the alley and pulled her to one side with one hand going over her mouth to stop the inescapable exclamation.

"Put this on, quickly!" He whispered, slipping the cloak to her. Her eyes widened as she recognised his voice and she swiftly swept the cloak around her.

"Harry, why do I hav-"

"Because you can't be seen here, especially not with me." He replied, anticipating her question.

"But Harry. Why?"

"I...I can't tell you that. Yet. No." He cut her off as her mouth opened to speak. "I'm not mad, or anything else like that. Just follow me, please." He half-pleaded.

"Ok Harry." She replied gently. "But this had better not be a joke." She said playfully and frowned slightly when he didn't smile.

"Come on then. Before the Order starts a search." He pulled her after him down a side street, suddenly thankful for the maps that Avira had made him memorise of the Alleys. He moved swiftly along the streets, turning right and left with apparent randomness before they emerged into a small courtyard. "Here we are." He said softly, leading Hermione into one of the houses.

Once inside the building, he shut the door and cast several high level secrecy and locking charms. "Ok. That should stop anyone noticing us." He said before turning back to Hermione. "Hermione...I know you have questions. Far more then I can answer in the limited time period we have. But there's something I have to do first."  
"What do you mean?" Harry's brow clenched in concentration as he stared at her forehead. "Harry?" Hermione said, a slight quaver in her voice as she saw his hands tense.

Harry drove his Sight into the pattern wrapped around Hermione's mind, digging deep through the outer layers to find the enchantment's heart. _Remarkable_ he thought, _though incredibly strong all you need to do is 'twist' this part and..._Harry's wand turned in his hand as he directed a tiny tendril of Power into the midst of the pattern. Spinning around alarms and fail-safes it penetrated to the heart of the enchantment and Harry lined it up with care. _There._ The Power lashed out, warping a tiny part of the pattern and disrupting its power flows but not destroying it. _Destroying would just make them cast it again and add more safeties. Disabling like this is much less likely to be noticed._ He thought as he pulled out of the pattern to see Hermione standing shivering in front of him.

"Hermione!" He called. She looked up at him, eyes deathly calm and he suddenly felt anger slam into his shields.

"I can't believe this society!" Hermione screamed. "What sort of reasonable culture has spells that erase their casting from you memory and - EW!" Hermione shuddered, her hands trying to brush an invisible _something _off her face. "I let...oh gods I think I might be sick! I am going to _**kill**_ h-" She stopped suddenly as she finally noticed Harry who had backed down the entire length of the hallway and was holding his head with one hand. "Harry? What's wrong?" She asked, her voice suddenly soft. "Are you all right? Is it your scar?" She moved down the hall towards him, "Harry, listen to me. It's ok. Everything's fine." Reaching him, she pulled his head around to face her. "Harry...what's the matter?"

"I....Hermione, you were _so_ angry." Harry whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," he paused, steadying himself from the emotional outrage that had just blasted through him, "that I could feel your anger. It was- it _is_ terrifying. Like a hurricane or tsunami, bloody hell Hermione, for a moment I thought you were going to _kill_ someone."

"Harry, I would nev-wait. You said you could _feel_ my anger? That's not possible Harry." She said quickly and Harry sighed.

"Believe me, you have no idea how much I wish that were true sometimes."

"But I've never read anything about sensing emotions Harry." She tapped his chest. "And I believe you owe me an explanation for where you were this summer." She said tartly and Harry relaxed as he felt her anger subside. He flicked his wand, conjuring a pair of chairs.

"I think you're going to want to be seated for this Hermione." He said as he slid into one of the chairs. She followed his action tentatively, surprised by his level of competence. "Let's see...where to begin. I wasn't kidnapped at the start of summer Hermione. If anything, I was liberated from a prison of Dumbledore's creation." Her mouth started to move in protest but he didn't let her get a word in. "I was taken somewhere – I'm still not sure where – but it was another _world_ Hermione. A world outside of this one at least. Magic is different there, _everything_ is different there. And I have a Gift of that world. A Gift that allows me to know what people are feeling. Not mind-reading, more emotion-reading then anything else." Hermione couldn't restrain herself any longer.

"Harry, that just isn't possible. Another _world_? How did you get there? More importantly, _why_ did you go there? I mean, didn't you even think about what could have ha-" Hermione stopped dead as Harry looked at her. A look, that was it. And everything that had happened over the summer came crashing into her mind. His parent's will being delivered. The images of the world he had visited. His training in physical, magical and emotional combat. The horrendous mixture of rage and pain that had slowly drained away into simple sorrow with the help of his teachers. And beneath it all a riotous, impossible joy. And then it stopped as suddenly as it had started, leaving her breathless. "I....Harry, what the _hell_ was that?" She gasped, her mind still catching up with the force of the emotionally charged memories. Harry's face was clouded with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"I...I really don't know." Harry replied, trying to replay what had just happened in his mind. He had wanted to show Hermione everything that had happened and somehow his Gift had responded.

---- FLASHBACK ----

"What you have to understand Harry is that Gifts, unlike your magic, respond incredibly easily to sub-conscious – or in some cases conscious – wishes. It's one of the reasons that I had to lock down part of your Gift when you first got here." Elani paused as she saw the confusion on his face and sighed gently. "As a rule Harry, the more powerful a Gift is, the easier it responds to what you want. If you had woken up hearing voices inside your head, or whatever it is you feel when you sense mind-speech, how would you have reacted?"

"I...I would have wanted them out." Harry replied, "I'm still not hugely comfortable with how it feels, but now that I know what it is I'm all right with it." Elani nodded.

"And there's where the problem would have been. When you are fully trained, you will quite possibly be able to fight both Avira and I to a standstill. As it was then though, you would have used that power as a club to silence the voices in your mind. And that would have shattered the minds of dozens." She reached out, squeezing her pupil's shoulder. "I know it's frightening, having that much power at your command. But that fear is a perfectly rational and very _good_ thing. If you weren't frightened of it, then you wouldn't accept how dangerous it is. _Any_ gift of this level should never be taken lightly. Though training will allow you to control it, never forget that when we send you back this control will not be anywhere close to complete."

"So, will you lock it down partially when I go back?" Harry asked.

"Now, while it should depend on how much control you have by then, it's incredibly unlikely that you'll have anything but the lightest blocks on your power when you go back, Harry. If you get attacked you very well may need it." Their eye's locked. "Don't worry about it though. Just be careful about what you wish for. If you Gift can do it and you want it enough, it _will_ happen." She shook herself slightly before smiling. "Now that's quite enough talk I think. Let's see what we can do with this shield of yours. You see-

---END FLASHBACK---

"Hermione?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes Harry?"

"What did you see?" She started.

"I saw...I saw your escape, the reasons behind it, everything that you did this summer." Harry let out the mental breath he had been holding. She was calling his disappearance an escape. She shook her head slowly. "I just..." Harry nodded.

"It's a huge shock, I know. In a way it's also worse than what happened to me as you're getting hit by _everything_ I learnt over the summer at once." He reached out to grasp her shoulder comfortingly only to find her past his hand and hugging him. Almost without thinking, he responded as he felt the confused pain she was feeling. Eventually her hold loosened and she pulled away from him, wiping her eyes with one hand. "Better now?" He asked, deliberately ignoring the tint of red around her eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Much." She replied. She examined him considering the new knowledge she had been given. _Wait a second_. "Harry, I know where you got it now, but are you sure you want to parade around with that on your hip?" She asked, indicating the sword sheathed at his waist.

"Well right now it discourages people from trying anything on me. The real reason though," he had the good sense to at least _try_ to look abashed, "I just want to throw people off. I mean, imagine what the reaction will be when I walk into the Great Hall with it on." He grinned as Hermione was once more reduced to speechlessness. As Hermione started to regain control of her vocal cords however, the grin vanished. "Think about it though. You've seen what was revealed to me, how much of my life has been naught but falsehood. Hermione, I need to do everything in my power to knock the people who created those lies off balance. This is just one of the little things I'm planning on doing that should tip that balance a bit further out of their favour." He glanced at his watch and stiffened slightly. "I'm afraid I have to go now Hermione, I can't risk being found yet and if you don't get back soon the Order will want to send out a search party."

"But you came right up to me a-" He shook his head.

"That was a lucky break for me Hermione. Appearing and then vanishing the way I did there will just throw them off a bit more. But being located could cause problems. I need dear old Albus to know I'm around. I just don't want him to know _where_. Before I go though I need to know; are you going to be ok tonight?" Hermione thought for a few seconds and then nodded sharply.

"I think I can survive one night Harry, but it's nice of you to ask." She replied mischievously. She waved away his concern. "I'll be fine Harry, you just make sure you aren't found."

"I – All right." He pulled his hood up, completely concealing his face before leading her to the door. "Go straight down that alley and it will bring you out beside Flourish and Blotts." He indicated one of the better lit walks. "I'll see you on the train then." Harry finished, waiting for her nod before disappearing down the same alley they had come from. Hermione lingered for a few seconds more, watching him vanish into the darkness before turning and heading down the alley he had indicated to rejoin Ginny and Ron at the Leaky Cauldron for transport back to Order Headquarters.

* * *

_**AN:**_ Sorry for the long wait here, I was distracted by another project. I hope you enjoy this chapter though. The next chapter should be a bit easier for me to write as I have a lot ideas already down for use in it. That chapter will cover returning to Hogwarts and that's bound to be full of fun and games. I have however, hit a slight problem (nothing serious though). I didn't realise this when I wrote it (I probably _should_ have but it never crossed my mind) but you need Mage-Gift to have Mage-Sight. So I have decided to give Harry an Apprentice level Mage-gift. I will be re-writing the relevant parts of the first chapter to accommodate this change. I am really not trying to super Harry here, this was a completely honest mistake that was pointed out to me by my brother who knows Velgarth better than I do.

Many thanks go again to ShinjuKuroba for both betaing this for me and effectively co-writing the first major piece of dialogue in this chapter as part of an MSN conversation.

And as usual, please leave a review on your way out.

Wind to thy wings.


	5. Chapter 5

___**AN:**_tamzing, I guess my brain decided to take you request about a fast update as an order. I have no idea how I managed it. Dreamweaver, that's a very interesting analogy. It's also a very good one for the situation. If you think it's a bad thing, I'm sorry but I don't think I can break away from it without breaking the entire story concept. In all truth though, coming from the basic concepts I had for the idea the comparison was just about inevitable. Ladysavy, I think I've managed to explain at least some of the will in this chapter. As to Velgarth (the world and magic) I'll be explaining bits of it along the way but I can't fully explain it without referencing the books (that you haven't read). If the wiki isn't enough feel free to put any questions into a PM or review and I will do my best to answer them. Gina. I could do that, but then I'd have to scrap the rather nifty idea my brother came up with for defenistrating the idea of love being 'The power he knows not'. And I'd already written the flashback scene showing Harry's mage-gift when you reviewed. On that note though, as long as you do it I don't care when it gets in. The fact that you care enough to review is more than enough for me. Also that sounds like a rather painful number of e-mails to deal with.

Also; a very special thanks to ShinjuKuroba for betaing this for me. By the time this is done you might just have a shrine.

* * *

Rain beat down on the roof of Platform 9¾ , tapping out a staccato rhythm all but lost to the bustling crowd below. Harry watched the Aurors stationed at the entrance to the platform with veiled amusement. Oh, they probably had spells set up to detect the Trace on his wand when he passed through it, but it just so happened that those spells had been on the wrong entrance. Knowing from what Elani had told him that people only started to arrive at nine or ten, Harry had neatly circumvented the risk of passing through the barrier as well as that of the Order catching him before he got on the train by using his Firebolt to fly onto the platform at six am. He had then gotten onto the Express and waited. When the Aurors arrived at seven, he simply made sure he was in compartment out of their field of vision. Then when the first pupils arrived, he was just assumed to have gotten there before them and wasn't approached as most of them weren't the most social people – hence the reasons for their early arrivals. When the real crowds started to appear, he placed a locking charm on the compartment door. As he kept his face hidden from anyone looking in, a few people knocked once or twice out of simple curiosity when they found the compartment locked but when they found themselves ignored they moved on a found their own seats. Only when what he had decided to start calling the 'Order' pupils passed through the barrier did he move at all and that was only due to concentration. If someone had been watching, they would have seen him tense the same way twice more before the train left. And if that same person had been able to see who was entering the station at the same time as those movements he might have drawn some very interesting conclusions. As it was though, no one gave him any notice until he slid compartment door open a full twenty minutes after they had left the station.

He knew that at this point he was going to be noticed. There was nothing he could do about that fact. But there were surprisingly few people in the corridors of the train. When he looked in on some of the compartments as he passed them he began to realize why. Disheartened people didn't move around that much more than absolutely necessary. And these people certainly seemed depressed. _Well_ he thought _if the reason for that is my 'kidnap' or whatever Albus has taken to calling it then they're in for a surprise tonight._ He hid a smile as he made his way along the length of the Express, following something. Near the front of the train, he found that something. Hermione was sitting with Ron and Ginny, quite obviously (to him at least) not that comfortable around them. He grinned as he drew his wand, this should draw Hermione out a treat. He traced a three-dimensional star in the air before him, infusing the area with magic. He then pointed his wand at the centre of the construct.

"Pluvia Lux lucis."

Hermione was trying almost desperately to keep up conversation with Ron and Ginny as she usually did on the Express. She had been uncharacteristically quiet last night and she knew it so today she was doing her best to bore them to death by talking about the book she had got to cover her meeting with Harry. It was actually a rather fascinating work, the chapters she had read so far had covered the basics of anchoring wards and the contents page seemed to promise explanations of how to weaken and eventually destroy or alter those anchors. She was about half-way to driving Ginny into torpidity when a star of swirling colour floated _through_ the glass of the compartment door and circled the room before moving through the door again and vanishing down the corridor. Hermione, temporarily stunned by what had just happened, quickly regained control over herself and dashed out of the door with her wand in her hand.

"Hermione, where are you going?" Ron called after her. She stopped for a moment poking her head back through the door.

"That was a piece of rather advanced magic Ronald; I want to know who cast it. And if they're allowed to." She said brightly, "We _are_ prefects remember?"

"Hermione," he groaned as she vanished again, "come back." He fully expected her to walk back in on hearing him, the loyalty spell primer Dumbledore had cast on her should at least give him that level of control. But she didn't reappear. He consigned that strange fact to his memory to bring up with Dumbledore the next time they talked. He would want the spell checked if Hermione was able to disobey him like that. It could mean a set back on the casting of the _real_ spell as the primer had to stay in place for at least three months before it could be affirmed. This summer had been a dream though, Hermione 'helping' him with all his homework had left him free to do whatever he wanted. He swung his feet up onto the rest of the seat and drifted off into those fun memories.

Hermione followed the star as it travelled along the Express, casting just about diagnostic spell she knew on it as she walked. The star itself moved at a brisk walking pace and seemed to be a simple outline with the lines filled with ever-shifting colours. She had never read about anything like it either and that was what truly intrigued her. Hermione's thirst for knowledge extended to almost everything and though it sometimes annoyed people it had also been undeniably life-saving on several occasions. And this was something completely outside of her knowledge, a non-physical magical construct that was operating without directions or power from a wand. And that, though not completely without precedent, was incredibly complex magic. She _did_ have a sneaking suspicion of who had cast it – one of the reasons she had followed it so quickly – but she wasn't going to trust that until she got some clear evidence. She was so lost in thinking about how it was possible that she almost didn't notice the object of her interest slow and float through the door to another compartment. Looking around, she realised she had followed it almost the entire length of the train. She slid the door open and saw Harry sitting by the window watching the countryside speed by. The star of colour floated down in front of him and he smiled.

"So you found me did you?" He said wryly, gesturing for her to sit.

"So it seems." She replied, taking a seat across from him and watching intently as he whispered something indecipherable to the star. It seemed to 'nod' to him and then vanished through the compartment door once again. "How do you _do_ that?" She whispered. "I mean, I know it's technically possible...but something like that acting without a wand actively present is a very rare occurrence."

"Well," Harry said, "let's just say Empathy wasn't the only Gift I received."

----FLASHBACK----

"Avira, I know my Gift's strong but I thought that you and Elani were capable of shielding it." Harry said as he followed his teacher through the Pass-through around the Working Area.

"We can." Avira answered, an unusual grimness colouring his tone. "At least, we can shield your Empathic Gift." Harry stiffened.

"I thought you said I only had two Gifts and the other one was Mage-Sight?"

"Yes I did, unfortunately what I told you at Privet Drive was slightly misleading. Mage-Sight is only part of a Gift. And that Gift is _Mage-Gift_ Harry." Harry's mouth closed with an almost audible click of teeth.

"Does that mean that I'll be able to do what you and Elani can do?" he asked almost fearfully.

"I would say 'I'm sorry but you won't', but you seem to be glad of that fact." Avira replied. "At most you have a mid-level Journeyman's potential." Harry sighed with relief.

"Sorry, it might same strange but having _one_ Adept level Gift is more than enough for me." Avira chuckled.

"That's quite understandable. I don't think many sane people _would_ want two Adept level Gifts if they knew what having _one_ was like." He paused. "Now in these sessions I'm going to be teaching you how to ground, centre and shield. Those three things form the basic education of every properly taught Gifted. They are what allows one to protect themselves from their Gift, control it and use it to protect themselves from other Gifted." He smiled slightly. "In all honesty this is going to help you with your Empathy as well. The basic principles are very similar. Don't for a _moment_ think though that being able to ground, centre and shield for one Gift means you can apply exactly the same techniques to another. _Especially_ with the sort of power difference you have between them. On that subject though, these lessons will also allow me to accurately determine your potential as a Mage. I can say though, regardless of that you possess one of the keenest Mage-Sights I have ever seen. I'm putting that down to whatever the will did to you." Harry nodded before speaking up.

"Considering what I know you've done, I've left the Power that I can see around me alone. I really don't want to damage anything."

"That's good, even though you wouldn't be able to access more than one of the weaker ley-lines. You're not keyed to the Heartstone." Avira replied and gestured. "That massive concentration of power that's almost too bright to look at is the Heartstone Harry, it's the power source of all the Vale's enchantments."

"But, what exactly is it?" Harry asked.

"Well we're....still not exactly sure. I mean, it acts like a node except it doesn't have a limit to the number of 'lines' that can be attached to it, it purifies the energy is stores and there doesn't seem to be a limit to that storage capacity." He suddenly realised his mistake as he noticed Harry's confusion and sighed. "My apologies Harry, I forgot that we haven't yet explained the way our magic works. Every living thing creates magical energy, tiny amounts of it but it's there nonetheless. The basic theory is that this energy concentrates in ley-lines like water flowing to a stream. Nodes are the magical equivalent of lakes in this analogy though they also draw more lines to themselves. And then there are the Heartstones. To continue the analogy, they are oceans of magic with no perceivable limit once well established. Heartstones are also truly unique as they purify the Power that flows into them, making it safe for all the mages of the Vale to use."

"You mean every mage has access to that?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Every mage in the Clan is keyed to the Heartstone Harry, though you probably won't be. No one can really tell what could happen if your world's magic came into contact with a source of _this_ world's magic as concentrated as a Heartstone." Harry nodded, relief again standing out on his face. "Now," Avira said, his tone turning businesslike, "first off you need to learn to ground your power. Let's start with this..."

----END FLASHBACK----

Hermione quickly made the connections in her head, drawing from the memories she now had of his summer. His lips curved up slightly as he felt the rapid-fire sequence of conclusions firing off inside her head to find her answer.

"Ah, now I see." She said a few seconds later. "Mage-Gift." He nodded approvingly.

"Exactly. I don't have access to Power like what Avira or Elani can call on – thank god – but for reasons that Avira just put down to how the magic of the will meddled with my magical channels I seem to be able to access the weaker ley-lines. And as if I didn't already have _enough_ strangeness in my life." He said jokingly before turning serious. "Now, how was your night?" He asked carefully.

"It could have been worse I think." Hermione replied. "The interrogation we were subjected to after Ginny told the Order members who picked us up that we had met you in Diagon tired us out. Did you really _have_ to throw a knife at Tonks?"

"They told you about that?" Harry laughed. "Well, strictly speaking no. But I knew she had shields that would protect her and I wanted to cause a stir. What did they think of it?"

"Well Dumbledore has said that he wants whoever threw the knife found. He 'wants to know if it was an action of Voldemort or if we have another enemy out there'. But I don't think it's being given that high a priority now that they know you're back. I do have a question though. How-" The rest of her question was interrupted by a rattling on the door. They both looked up to see Draco Malfoy attempting to open the compartment door. He was flanked by his usual 'companions' and seemed to be rather intent on entering. Finding that physical force was ineffective, he drew his wand and pointed it at the door. Harry stifled a laugh.

"This should be rather fun to watch I think." He said, leaning back.

"Harry, are you sure you want to let him try to brea-" Hermione was cut off yet again as Draco cast his first spell. The door remained resolutely shut and the words "You do not have an appointment at this time. Please try again later." appeared in the air in front of the blond. His face darkened and he raised his wand again. A ray of light lanced out to impact on the door. A second later, Malfoy and his cohorts were no longer standing at the door. Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Where did they go Harry?" Harry laughed.

"He just couldn't let it slide..." He said through peals of laughter. Calming himself he answered her. "The spell he cast there was a rather more powerful unlocking charm than your usual _Alohomora a_nd it triggered the intruder discouragement spells. He and his two muscles are currently lying in a heap in the corridor forty foot that way," he gestured, "with the same words that appeared when he tried ___Alohomora_hovering above them." He laughed again at her expression, as she was torn between outrage and hysterical laughter. In the end though, the conflict never had enough time to resolve as the star of light came floating back through the door again which slid open to allow Luna and Neville to enter.  
"Ah, you're here. Come in quickly and close the door behind you. I think you're going to enjoy this next bit." Harry said jovially to the newcomers as he gestured at empty seats beside him and Hermione. "Take a seat." Taken aback by his welcome they both slid into the seats just as Draco appeared in front of the door again, having obviously sprinted the entire way when he saw people entering. When the door once again refused to grant him entrance he tried something more forceful than his two previous attempts. The door slid open with a gesture of Harry's wand, allowing the ray of light to splash harmlessly on the shield just inside the door frame. Harry sighed and stood.

"You know, that could have hurt someone Malfoy. Blasting hexes aren't something you play around with."

"And why should I care about that Potter?" He replied viciously. "Assaulting a prefect and presumptive Heir to an Ancient House. The Headmaster___and_Wizengamot will hear of thi-"

"Oh be quiet." Harry said flatly as Draco's perceived threat triggered the intruder removal section of the wards he had cast.

If there had been anyone in the corridor at the time they would have seen Draco Malfoy – a stunned expression on his face – go flying out of one of the compartments. Harry stalked to the door, the blonde's wand held in his left hand and his tone was that of one scolding a child. "You know, considering what had already happened to you, you really ___should_have expected something like that. As it is," he twirled the boy's wand in his hand, "I think I'll be holding on to this. If you're a good boy, I'll let you have it back at the end of the feast. Good day." He calmly shut the door in Malfoy's face. Turning back to his friends he pocketed his wand. "I believe I owe two of you an explanation." He sat and looked at the two he was referring to. Neville had a look of dumbfounded shock on his face at what Harry guessed to be his swift rebuke of Malfoy and the fact that he was so casually___back__. _Luna on the other hand looked at him strangely for a few seconds before speaking.

"I was wondering when. You know the Velgaridani gave you a ___very _nice gift Harry. They must really like you to have given you such a wonderful piece of Wrackspurt dispelling equipment. Maybe you can let me get a closer look at it later." She smiled vaguely, indicating Harry's sword. Hermione opened her mouth, closed it again and expelled a long-suffering sigh.

"I don't think I'm _ever_ getting used to you Luna." Luna laughed.

"Good. If you ever got used to me, why," she paused for effect, "I'd be boring and then the Wrackspurts wouldn't come and visit me." Hermione's eyes bulged for a few seconds and then she laughed as well. "Now that that altogether lovely Wrackspurt jamming device has been addressed though, I think Neville might have a few questions." She waved her hand in front of the boy's face to jolt him out of wherever the shock had taken him. He jumped slightly and then his face cleared.

"Sorry about that Harry, it's just you vanish for the entire summer and everyone says you've been kidnapped and then you're just back again." He smiled, "It's quite startling. Not to mention the fact that was both the most impressive and most effortlessly handled confrontation with Malfoy I've seen in my life." Harry chuckled.

"I can understand that. Now, you both must have a lot of questions but just answering them would create even more questions and I doubt we'd be done by the time we got to Hogwarts. So, I'm going to tell you about everything that happened to me this summer." They both nodded. "Now as you know, I vanished about a week after the school term ended. By the end of that week I think a doctor would have said I was close to being a suicide risk. If I had been left there for the entire summer I don't know if I would be here right now." He let them absorb that information before continuing. "Then Avira came. Avira is the person who both rescued me and opened my eyes. You see, him coming along wasn't random. A month before they died, a few days short of going under the Fidelus, my parents gave a copy of their will to Avira. They did this," Harry took a deep breath, "because they suspected that Albus Dumbledore was not the paragon of 'Light' that he wished everyone to think he was and they knew Avira was powerful enough to evade him. I can't give you the reasons behind their suspicions of Dumbledore as they weren't included in the will." He raised his hand to ward off the question he was sure Neville was going to ask. "The only reason I trusted it, and him, was because he was able to match the Familial Signs, and the will was sealed inside a ___Curorreus _case attuned to the blood of both my parents." Both Neville and Luna gasped at that, though Hermione looked blank. She knew the ___significance_ of a _Curorreus _case, but still didn't know ___why _it was so important.

"A ___Curorreus_case is probably one of the most powerful artifacts that we still know how to create, Hermione. They're hideously expensive to commission but some of the older families have quite a few in their vaults." Neville stated, "I ___think _we have three or four in the Longbottom vaults, but the Potter's were a much older family than we were. Only the people who make them know how they work and even then only partially according to what I've been told. What they dothough has been known for centuries. When created they are keyed to respond to the willingly given blood of the family that ordered them. After that no one except a member of that family, not even the person who made it, can open the case after it's been closed. They are also just about as close as you get to completely indestructible. Magic bounces right off their outer shell and there was at least one recovered from one of the World War Two nuclear drops on Japan. It was estimated to be about 500 foot from ground zero and the only evidence of that fact was some light char on the casing." Hermione's eyes widened at that. "They're basically a perfect safe." Neville finished, slightly surprised by his own eloquence.

"How come these sort of things aren't talked about in any of the books I've read?" Hermione asked, annoyance colouring her tone.

"Well, in part the supremacist pure-bloods want to keep the 'contaminants' – those being people like you Hermione – from learning their secrets. The main reason though is that 'these sort of things' as you put it, are not well understood by Wizarding society. For the most part people just accept that they exist without giving a thought to how. A few have tried to decipher how the work," Luna winced, "let's just say such attempts rarely go well. And on the rare occasions that the researcher isn't killed, the results remain within his family." Harry nodded to Neville in thanks for the explanation.

"Now as I said, Avira had a ___Curorreus_ case with him that was attuned to the blood of both my parents. This left me as the only person who can open it. And what it contained was ___not _a normal will. Avira called it a Power-storm and said that I was damned lucky that it was controlled or it would have burnt me out. Whatever it was, it changed me. And more than that it told me almost everything my parent's knew about the Order and its members. It implanted a copy of the will with that knowledge as well, a copy patently immune to being wiped or suppressed from my mind. According to what it says, there have been at least fifteen major violations of its terms and I'm not even going to get started on the hundreds of minor violations it has recorded." A chime cut off anything more that Harry would have said and the entire group glanced out the window to find that night had fallen. Harry sighed. "I guess any further explanations will have to wait for another time then," he remarked, disappointment clear on his face. "We had better change."  
"But Harry," Neville asked, "surely you want at least a magical oath to not reveal any of this." Harry shook his head.

"Not needed Neville, I know both you and Luna won't betray me. Just be sure not to meet any of the teacher's eyes." Luna nodded in understanding but Neville looked – for one of the few times in this conversation – confused.

"I'll explain it to him Harry, don't worry about it. Anything else?" He seemed to ponder the thought deeply.

"In fact, yes. Leave any conflicts between me and Dumbledore, Malfoy or 'Professor' Snape to me. This is my fight and though when I broach all out defiance I ___will_ need your help, I do not want to pull you into the 'talk' I am almost definitely going to be subjected to after the Feast." He showed the two of them to the door so that they could return to their compartment to change. "We will talk again soon, just remember what I have said here. Leave the battle to me for now. Your strength will be needed later, preserve it for that time."

* * *

**AN:** Ok, I am very sorry for not continuing to Hogwarts in this one. It's just including it in here would have taken longer (how long I don't know, I'll be working on that over the next few days) and part of me thinks it would have been too much to put into the chapter. As it is I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will return again when I get chapter 6 up. I do however feel obligated to say that continuation at this kind of speed is almost definitely not going to be the norm. I'm sorry, but my head just doesn't seem to work like that. For those who have not read any of Misty's truly excellent works, just Google "Velgarth Wiki" and have a look at the Velgarth Wikipedia page and the Valdemar Wiki. Hopefully this will clear things up for you. And as usual, please leave a review on your way out.

Wind to thy wings.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** tamzing, I'm glad you liked it and I hope this lives up to your expectations. Akasha, I know I sent you a reply to your review but for Dreamweaver's sake I'll put up what I basically sent to you. I will admit that yes, the Sisterhood is gone. But that doesn't mean that the knowledge is lost forever. K'Leysha and the Eastern Empire both know how to implant objects permanently with spells. I direct your attentions to the Seal of the Empire (Storms series, can't remember which one) and things like the telesons (Storms and Silver Gryphon). Both of those things are permanently enchanted. And as they now _know_ that mage-blades are possible, I really don't see them not attempting to put them together. The main problem with mage-blades is that it takes a month to forge a single spell into one. Need (when she was human) made 12 swords a year – I think – and only sold 11 so that every four years she could spend four months forging all four spells into the year-swords she made for promising pupils. For the case of this story however, they have worked out how to forge spells into weapons. It's just that it takes longer. Like, three/four _times_ longer currently. That's why Harry fought being given it, he knows that the few season-swords Avira and Elani have made took years of their life to create and doesn't want to take from that (stupid chivalry). Dreamweaver, I promise you I will get to Hedwig eventually, it's just finding an appropriate spot. With the Gifts, no he is _not_ the only one with one. It's just that most of the time and Gifts are subsumed into or attributed to Wizarding magic. So yes, he's going to be looking.

* * *

Harry and Hermione sat at the window as the Express braked to arrive at the Hogwart's station. Hermione had shrunk her trunk before getting on board and as such had not needed to return to the Weasley's 'company' to change. Now as they watched the station appear out of the darkness, a thread of anxiety stole into Hermione's mind. Harry reached out to her and grasped her arm.

"Hermione, you look like you think we're about to go to war." He said jokingly.

"But...but aren't we?" She asked, her voice soft and full of worry. He squeezed her shoulder.

"No. Not yet. I'm not planning on showing our dear Headmaster this new side of me just yet-" she snorted and poked his sword. "Ok, not _all_ of it just yet," he corrected. "And regardless of how much he would like to, Tom knows that he needs to regroup after what happened at the Ministry. Whilst those that were captured _will_ be freed soon, he can't risk the possibility of another attack that fails. He could lose far too many of his allies if that happens again."

"I know that Harry. It's just I know that sometime soon we're going to be going into battle and we won't be able to trust everyone who's on 'our' side. And that scares me." Harry sighed and gently forced her around so that their eyes met.

"Hermione, listen to me. You wouldn't be a rational person if the idea of combat didn't scare you. The only reason I'm not curled up in a corner trying to think of ways to escape it all is because I've been forced to find out what it's like over the years. And Hermione," she nodded, "you were at the Ministry. You faced your trial by fire there and you were _not found wanting_. When the time comes to fight you will do so. You will not be without fear, that would be reckless, but your mind shall be clear. Never doubt that." Hermione smiled slightly and nodded.

"Thank you Harry, that's two I owe you now," she observed as the train slid to a stop. Standing, she gestured at the door. "Shall we go?"

They stepped off the Express together, to find Luna and Neville waiting for them. As Harry's foot touched the platform though, he Saw one of the delicate patterns of Power around the station contract suddenly._ So..an alarm of some kind_, he thought, watching the majority of the pattern's Power bleed out into another that aimed it at the castle like a signal. Drawing on his own power – Avira didn't want _anyone_ touching the ley-lines around Hogwarts until he could make sure they were safe – he did to this enchantment what he had done to the one on Hermione. He traced the lines of the pattern, making sure that no alarms had been triggered and so didn't notice the silence that rippled outwards from where he stood as people recognised him.

"Harry? Harry!" Luna said calmly, breaking him out of observing the enchantment.

"Huh?" He looked around. "Oh."

"Exactly," she said quietly, "now unless you want to be stuck here for hours, we should grab one of the carriages before they start asking questions." He nodded in acknowledgement and she led him through the crowd, Hermione and Neville dropping in behind them. The crowd parted before them as shocked people moved out of the way of their returned 'Chosen One'. Any who would have waylaid him thought better of it when they saw how he walked and the sword sheathed at his hip. They made it all the way to the carriages before someone even tried to speak.

"Is that you Harry?" Harry picked out the speaker from the crowd and recognised her. He smiled slightly as he let his friends climb onto the carriage.

"Who else would it be Katie?" Climbing onto the carriage he grinned as his comment melted the shock that had held the crowd. "I'll see you all at the feast." He called as the carriage pulled away from the station. "What?" He asked innocently as he turned back to notice the dumbfounded looks on his friend's faces. Hermione and Luna exchanged a look.

"Is it just my imagination or did you enjoy that?" Hermione exclaimed.

"No, it isn't your imagination." Harry replied, "I enjoyed that _far_ too much." He said as they passed through the wards around Hogwarts. He blinked, surprise colouring his expression.

"What is it Harry?" Neville said, noticing his surprise.

"No alarms." They all looked at him. "I'm just surprised he didn't put one here as well." He shrugged as they rolled up towards Hogwarts. "Now you might have guessed this Hermione, but I'm not going to be entering with you." To his slight confusion Luna and Neville nodded at that statement.

"Well, we figured that you'd want to make an entrance on your own after what you said on the train." Luna told him. "I take it you want us to act surprised when you appear as well, yes?" He nodded, the carriage coming to a stop. "In that case; I will talk to you tomorrow Harry, and good luck tonight." She gave him a quick hug before slipping through the main doors. Neville and Hermione did likewise, the former clasping hands and with another hug coming from the latter before they entered the school. Harry watched the door swing shut before donning his Invisibility Cloak. This was going to be interesting.

Dumbledore watched from the staff table as the first students entered the Great Hall. Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. The latter of the three immediately hurried up to where he sat and spoke quietly. "Harry was on the train sir." He straightened in his chair.

"Are you sure? Did you talk to him?" She nodded in answer to both questions. "Did he say how he got on without the barrier detecting him?"

"No sir."

"Was there anything out of the ordinary about him?" She shook her head and the stopped.

"Well, he did have a sword. And he seemed to be in much better shape then he was last year. But apart from that," she shrugged, "nothing I could see."

"Interesting." Dumbledore mused. "Thank you Miss Granger."

"Yes sir." She hastened back to her table just ahead of the first substantial wave of students entered the hall. They brought with them conversations that were much louder than normal. Albus ignored the increase in volume as a logical result of Harry's return. Watching the crowd though, he failed to see Harry and behind his eyes his mind was busy. How exactly _had_ Harry gotten past the barrier at Kings Cross without it alerting him? And more importantly, why hadn't the detection charm at the _Hogwart's_ station gone off?

More students arrived as the carriages returned with their second load and Harry wasn't with them either. He wasn't in the next wave either. Or any of the following ones. Dumbledore was confused. Miss Granger had told him that Harry had been on the train and that she had _talked_ with him. And he knew from experience that she was almost incapable of lying. So Harry had either learnt how to mask his magical signature or evade high-end detection wards. That was bad. If he knew how to hide himself from Albus' detectors then there could be some serious set-backs. A large portion of the Plan revolved around the ability to constantly know where Harry was and what he was doing. That had taken a blow this summer, but Albus had been certain that it was repairable. Now though, there could be _real_ problems. Continuing to ponder how he could compensate for this new ability, Albus missed the Sorting Hat's song, the Sorting and almost had to be reminded to stand up for his usual 'speech'.

"Welcome, welcome to you all. As I have said to those before you; there is a time for speeches and this is not it. Tuck i-" The doors to the Great Hall burst open. The entire staff table had their wands out within seconds, pointing at the entrance. Then they realised who they were aiming at.

"Starting without me I see, Headmaster?" Harry asked, smiling inwardly at the expressions before him. "And when you know I'm coming too."

The Great Hall exploded with sound.

Questions sprang from students' lips, creating a cascading wall of sound. Harry ignored it, walking to his House table and seating himself across from Hermione. A few around him reached out tentatively to gain proof that he was actually there and whispers of "it's him" and "he's real!" spread out from those few. Looking up at the staff table he saw his teachers sitting down, both Avira and Elani using the confusion to get a hold on their amusement. He felt a gentle caress on his mind. _:Nicely done Harry,:_ Elani Said, _:this should be fun to watch.:_ Dumbledore raised his wand. A blast of explosive sound swept the hall, but prompted no appreciable lowering in volume. He tried twice more and then silenced everyone in the Great Hall except for the staff. Sighing slightly with the effort it had taken he looked at Harry.

"It is good to see you again Mr. Potter. We were worried about you." Harry nodded, laughing inside. This was working perfectly. "As you are now here, may we continue?" Dumbledore asked wryly and on receiving another nod from Harry he lifted the silencing enchantment. "I know everyone here must have questions, but it would be wrong to waste this lovely repast to answer them." He stated gently. He waved his hands and the usual spread of food materialized on the tables. He watched as Harry responded to the students around him and frowned slightly. There was no sign of doubt or nervousness in his responses. No hint of it at all. His confidence level had been severely boosted over the past months. Yet another thing he would have to work around Dumbledore thought, suppressing a sigh of annoyance. Hopefully he would be able to talk to Harry about that though. Maybe convince him that acting that way would just make Tom act faster. If that wouldn't work though...he fleetingly considered Obliviating Harry's entire memory of the summer but that would be far too risky. Harry could have learnt how to defend himself from such attacks if what he had told the Weasley's was true. So he would have to make do with using words and passive magic. Not being able to do anything overt until he sounded out Harry's capabilities was going to be annoying, but there was really nothing he could do about it. Resigning himself to that fact he followed his own advice to the students and started to eat.

Harry watched Dumbledore unobtrusively as he ate, 'directing' a good selection of dishes to within his reach. When it was commented on that he seemed to be getting what he wanted exactly when he wanted it he shrugged and laughed it off with a comment about 'asking nicely'. He was chatting with the First Years he had sat down in the midst of when he Felt a distinctly familiar – and saddening – presence move up behind him.

"Bloody hell Harry, is that Goblin silver?" Ron asked breathlessly, his eyes shining as he saw Harry's sword up close. Harry turned to face his 'best friend', suddenly both pleased and unhappy about the illusions that had been placed on the blade by Avira. He had noticed them when it was given to him, but hadn't had a chance to determine what they did until last night. To anyone who knew what it was, they would see the real sword. But to any wizard who didn't know, it would appear to be a finely crafted blade of Goblin silver. According to the will – that had updated on re-entering Harry's world – the Potter vaults contained several of the blades.

"One of the areas that I was trained in whilst I was away was armed and unarmed combat. My teachers thought it best that I used a weapon that I owned." He watched as Ron's eyes widened and his heart sank as he Felt the jealously radiating from his 'friend'. "So one of them went to my vault and retrieved this. Anyway, how was your summer?" He asked quickly. After talking for a few minutes, Ron excused himself – probably to go scream himself hoarse at the 'unfairness' of it all – and Harry turned back to the First Years.

"He doesn't like you Harry. And he doesn't like us either." A dark-haired girl – Isabelle if Harry remembered correctly – spoke up, stopping whatever he was planning on saying dead.

"He's just tired, he isn't so bad once you get to know him." He said, improvising. The girl frowned and shook her head emphatically.

"No. His robe touched my hand as a he left. It felt.." She paused as if struggling to find the right words, "it felt bad. Really bad." She shook herself and went back to her food. Harry risked a Look at her and stifled a swear._ :Avira? There's at least one Gifted in the First Years,:_ he Sent but before he could Say anything more Dumbledore was standing up and the room quieted.

"Again, I must welcome you all to this fair school. For those starting now on the path of magical knowledge it is good to have you with us. To all returning students, I hope you had a stimulating holiday. Now you may have noticed that we have two new faces amongst the staff tonight." He gestured at Avira and Elani. "May I introduce your new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor Avalorn Leysha and his partner Elani who will be taking the newly created position of Assistant Nurse." As Dumbledore led the applause for their new staff, Harry hid a smile. If only Dumbledore that he was applauding the person who was the immediate root of all his problems. 'Avalorn' nodded his head in acknowledgement whilst Elani waved. She was really enjoying this far too much. Harry tuned the rest of the usual comments out, he'd heard them for five years running already. Then everyone was getting up to leave and Dumbledore was walking towards him. He almost broke and ran there, still not sure if he could maintain this illusion but before he could even consider moving Avira reached out with his Gift. _:Don't worry Harry, we'll be watching from our quarters.:_ he Sent, calming his pupil. _:But remember what I told you about negative links. You must face this yourself if you are ever to fully master your Gifts. We all know you can do this:_ he finished as Albus cut through the crowd around Harry.

"Harry, I was wondering if it would be possible for us to have a chat?" he said amiably. "My office?" Harry looked up and nodded.

"Now, you mean?" He asked quickly.

"I think it would be better to get it out of the way classes begin and start to blur the memories." Dumbledore replied and gestured for Harry to lead.

"That does make sense. I'll need to give something back on the way out though." He stood and only then did Dumbledore truly notice the sword. His eyes widened slightly but he held his peace. _Another thing to bring up I guess_, he thought, _I can't have Harry walking around with _that. He missed the slight twitch of lips as Harry noticed his Headmaster's reaction.

The crowds opened up before them as they walked, out of respect for which person Harry wasn't sure. _Gods above, please don't make it me,_ he thought desperately, _I get enough of this without being able to part crowds._ His eyes scanned across the mass of moving students, finally locating who he was looking for. "Malfoy!" His voice cut through the low murmur of the students like a gun shot.

"Yes, Potter?" He drawled in response. Harry smirked.

"I believe this is yours." He tossed Draco's wand across the students separating them. "Next time, give up whilst you're ahead." Dumbledore looked at him quizzically. "A little incident on the Express Headmaster. It is now settled." He said in a tone that declared that avenue of conversation definitely closed. Dumbledore pondered the change in tone there as they made their way to the gargoyle that guarded his office.

"Ice Mice" He said clearly and the gargoyle sprang aside and he took the lead up the spiralling staircase. Entering his office, Dumbledore went to his desk and sat down, gesturing Harry to the seat across from him. "Now Harry, if you could tell me where you went earlier this summer and how you got back?"

"I'm afraid I can't." Harry replied shortly, taking the seat indicated for him.

"Why not, my boy? I simply want to make sure you were safe." Dumbledore said kindly. Harry chuckled darkly.

"So you need to know _where I was_ to assure that I was safe?" Harry snorted disbelievingly, "Why can't you just take my word on it?" Albus frowned.

"I'm afraid that won't do Harry, for all I know they could have tampered with your memori-" His eyes widened as Harry cut him off.

"If they've done that then finding out where I was won't matter as 'they' would have modified that." _Gotcha!_ he thought wickedly.

"Uh," This conversation was notgoing the way he wanted it too. When had Harry gotten this good at logic? "Well Harry, I guess that if you say you were safe I can take you word." He locked eyes with his student, attempting to gain access to his mind. He was met with one of the strangest things he had ever experienced; the mental equivalent of a white-out. He swiftly pulled himself back from Harry's mind and tried a different tack. "I'm curious; did your hosts inform you of your OWL grades?" Harry's eyes narrowed at the almost imperceptible pause before Dumbledore had said hosts.

"As a matter of fact, they did. I think I did quite well considering the circumstances." This was some of the information he could give Dumbledore as part of their scheme to throw him off balance. "In fact, they sent Professor McGonagall a note with my NEWT choices." He rubbed his chin. "She probably doesn't remember it, but she has the timetable all set up." And despite his training and the need to keep this up he had to choke back a laugh at the stunned look on Dumbledore's face. He didn't know why he had been so scared, this was fun.

"You...you mean they wiped her memory Harry? How can you say that you were safe with them if they wiped the memory of one of your teachers?"

"I'm sorry, did I _say_ that she had her memory wiped?" Harry sighed.

"How else would she not remember your note?" Dumbledore half-shouted.

"There are other ways to make people forget things. Some of them," he said pointedly, "are _designed_ to be temporary." He leant forward in his chair, eyes hardening slightly. "Would there be anything else sir?"

"Well, yes." Dumbledore gestured at the sword Harry wore. "You _do_ know that Hogwarts has rules against lethal weapons." Harry nodded. "Well then, I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate your sword to comply with those rules." He said smugly.

"Does that mean you're going to confiscate the lethal weapons that everyone else in the school has as well?" Harry asked and sighed at the Headmaster's confused look. "If I'm not mistaken, a wand can kill just as easily as this." He patted his sword. "So until you extend that rule of yours to them, I'm keeping this." _And have fun trying to get that done mister._ "Now, if that is all, I have one or two questions if you would be willing to answer them." Suppressing a resigned sigh, Dumbledore nodded.

"Anything I can help you with, Harry. Just ask."

"Thank you. Now, I was wondering. What is the penalty for subverting the will of an Ancient household?" Dumbledore paled slightly.

"Well, it would depend on how badly the will was violated and on how many counts. Minor violations are generally punishable by fines but major violations carry an automatic minimum of one month in Azkaban. May I ask why you wanted to know about this?"

"Just interested. One of my tutors got me interested in Wizarding law. It's a rather fascinating subject." Harry said brightly and Albus' face went a little whiter. "The second question is more of a request really, but would you not think that in my fight against Tom I'm going to need a knowledge of potions?" Dumbledore nodded mutely, grimly aware of where this was going. "Then I would like you to tell Professor Snape that I will be in his class tomorrow afternoon." Dumbledore nodded again but Harry wasn't finished, "If he doubts my competence in his chosen subject then I will make anything he wishes me to if it is possible for another student of my level to complete it." He stood. "If there is nothing else, may I go?"

"Yes Harry, I will inform Severus of the addition to his class. I take it you got your books after you left the company of the Weasleys and Miss Granger?"

"I did. Good night Professor." Harry replied as he walked out.

* * *

**AN:** And there's Chapter 6 down, _much_ faster than I thought it was going to be and bringing this story to over twenty thousand words (for me this is incredible). The last third or so was written in a few hours under the influence of Nightwish. Somehow that sort of musics seems to act as a form of steroids for my imagination. As you can see, I've brought in a Gifted first year with rather sensitive touch-sensing (or is it touch-feeling, I can't remember). There are definitely going to be more Gifted among the students though and I'm not going to discriminate against the Slytherins. I doubt I'm going to give much to any of their mains, but I've been wanting only or two other Mage-Gifted (having Mage-gift here is rarer than Fire-starting in Valdemar) and a low Master potential Slytherin OC seems to be solidifying in my mind as I type. Luna's getting Alberich level Foresight but with more of an emphasis on feelings of what is going to happen rather than outright visions. I mean, she'll get the occasionally one, but not often. As for other Gifts...well you just wait and see. Now I'm wanting an opinion here from all of you. It concerns how the pairing between Harry and the character I'm planning on building a relationship with. There are four options in my mind and I will say now that I prefer option b). Anyway, here are the choices:

a) Lifebond, neither side rejects.

b) Lifebond, Harry attempts to fight it as he doesn't want her getting hurt and ends up just about as messed as Talia was about Dirk as a result. Resolving event somewhere down the line maybe around the Final Battle against Riddle (and yes, I know that's cliché. Sorry, but sue me.) or when Avira or Elani – who _are_ life-bonded – work out what's driving him up the walls and explain to him how what he's doing is affecting his bonded.

c) Love-bond, neither side rejects.

d) Love-bond, Harry uses the same excuse as he does in canon until he's defeated Riddle.

Just put the option you prefer in your review (if you want to express your opinion that is).

Huge thanks to ShinjuKuroba once again for betaing this. You're the best.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it and please leave a review as you leave.

Wind to thy wings.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN:** Dreamweaver. First, thank you for reviewing. Now for your question. Probably yes, though exactly how it's going to affect everything I can't say without revealing what may become a rather substantial part of my plot. This chapter's a bit of a mish-mash of scenes that will lead into Snape's test. So this is basically a semi-filler (sorry). If everything works out, I should have the next chapter down in the next week or so, but that may be optimistic.

---------

Harry replayed the entire 'encounter' with his former mentor in his head as he headed for the Gryffindor common room. Whilst he was sure Elani and Avira would want his view on what they had been watching, he wasn't going to blow their cover by going to the quarters of two staff member he had never met. So it was to the common room and bed. Of course, there was _going_ to be a gap between those two actions knowing his house. He was suddenly very glad about the two firm allies he knew he had within his house. And the fact that one of them was a dorm mate was going to help a lot as well. _At least the two enemies I know about are going to have to hide that behind a mask_. His mind clicked over what he had gleaned from the conversation again before he arrived at the Fat Lady. "_Licentia Pluvia_" He said and as the portrait rotated open, he wondered who had set the password. Climbing through the entranceway, he stepped into the common room to a resounding silence. He raised a hand in greeting as his Empathy absorbed the feelings permeating the room. Thankfully confusion and relief seemed to be the primaries, but there was an ungodly mix of emotional tangles hidden under those. With the limited control he had, he _could_ Project passive emotions like an aura and he did so now. A wave of calm swept over the tower's inhabitants. As he felt the emotional tension subside to reasonable levels, Harry spoke.

"Hi. I take it from the little display in the Hall that you missed me?" A few people chuckled.

"Well," Katie Bell replied dryly. "I guess you _could_ say that." She smiled. "Now, acting as the unofficially nominated spokesperson for this House, where the _hell_ have you been?" The dam holding back the other broke.

"There were articles in the papers!"

"Posters!"

"Massive searches!"

"Dumbledore said you had been kidnapped!"

"Where _were_ you?"

Harry mimed reeling back as if attacked and raised his hand again, this time in a gesture of surrender.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much, but I swear to you all I was safe this summer. What our dear Headmaster stumbled into was me departing with one of my teachers." He nodded as the smarter ones made the connections. "Yes, I was _training_ this summer. I learnt a lot t-"

"Harry!" the boy in question suppressed a sigh as Ginny came hurtling across the room and enveloped him in a crushing hug not unlike those of the elder Weasley Woman, "We missed you this summer!" She beamed at him, quite obviously trying to project a sisterly type of affection – and failing. "You missed the big announcement! I'm dating Dean. Isn't that great?" She had been hoping for a jealous reaction, his response was quite _smiled_ at her.

"That's great Ginny, I hope you're good for each other." Harry said, gently prying her off of him. "Look, I know you have more questions but I've just had a rather tiring talk with Professor Dumbledore about the same things you want to ask me. Can this wait until breakfast tomorrow?" A few looked a bit rebellious but Katie answered for what she deemed the consensus.

"We've waited the entire summer for some answers, I guess that now you're back we can wait another day. But you'd better have answers for us tomorrow Mister or I will personally make your Captaincy a living hell on or offthe team." She said lightly. Finding himself free much faster than he had expected, Harry quickly made his way to his dorm before any unsatisfied with Katie's decision could corner him. He fielded a few questions from his dorm mates as he changed before drawing the curtains around him shut._ I didn't realise I was this tired_ he thought as he cast one of the ward-sets he knew around his bed and belongings. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

----------

"Harry! Harry, wake u-OW!" Harry smirked as he emerged from the dormitory wash-room fully dressed to see Ron reeling back, clutching the hand he had used to try and open the curtains around Harry's bed.

"You know, I would have paid attention to that." Harry said wryly, pointing at the message that floated in front of Ron. "When a warding scheme tells you not to enter, it's generally not a good idea to try defying it." Ron spun.

"I-um. Well why do you have wards on your bed anyway?"

"A rather large group of highly skilled wizards want me dead Ron and considering how easily they infiltrated the Ministry I am taking no chances. Anything that can give me time to react is a good thing, however much it may," there was a brief pause as he considered Ron's 'injury', "inconvenience my friends." Ron's eyes bulged slightly.

"_Inconvenience?_" He cried incredulously. "Do you have any idea how much this hur-"

"Less than the Cruciatus curse. I _tested_ that." He pointed his wand at the – for now – silenced Ron and muttered something indecipherable. There was a flare of soft light and the pain in his 'friend's' hand vanished. "There you go, now I'm heading down to breakfast. I'll see you there." Walking out he caught a low mutter.

"No you won't, you'll be too busy talking to your damned fan club." He almost turned around and broke their 'friendship' then and there. But instead he tamped the feelings down and kept walking.

Hermione and Neville were both waiting for him in the common room.

"Well, they must have done _something_ right during your training. You're actually up early." Hermione said, her voice laced with gentle humour. Neville nodded and looked at his watch.

"Well, I guess we have twelve hours until the world implodes. Anything you want to do before you die?" His eye's sparkled with amusement.

"Why Neville, I never knew you went that way?" Harry responded, "I might have to introduce you to a few people I know." He laughed lightly as Neville reddened.

"I'm more interested in how you know those people Harry. Something you're not telling us?" Hermione snickered at both their reactions. "Come on boys, Harry here has some questions from the whole house to answer." And before either of them could say anything in response she grabbed both of them and pulled them through the portrait hole behind her. Harry winked at Neville and mimed lifting. He grinned and nodded. Catching Hermione under her arms and lifting her up between them, they jogged down the corridor with their 'package' before setting her down at the top of the staircase to the Great Hall. She glared at them.

"Oh come on Hermione, you can't deny that that was fun." She muttered something about the annoying necessity of a male species before smiling.

"Well I'm never hurrying you anywhere ever again after that."

"Ten sickles says she doesn't last to lunch" Harry stage-whispered and she slapped his arm playfully.

"Stop it! I'm meant to be a prefec-Ah!" She squealed as Harry poked her in the side. A wicked grin spread across his face.

"Ticklish are we? She drew her wand and brandished it at him in mock anger.

"No! And if you ever do that agai-Ah!" Neville copied Harry's action whilst her back was turned.

"_Very_ ticklish Harry." She turned towards him and Harry caught her again.

"Look, I'm meant – AH! – to be a prefect – Stop it! – I need to he-ah-lp the – Oh that's it!" She flicked her wand, knocking the boys head's together. They looked at her as if betrayed and she burst out laughing. Harry shook his head slowly.

"Women...so emotional, eh Neville?" His friend nodded solemnly. "Now, Hermione. If you're going to live up to your duties as a prefect I think you need to stop laughing."

"Yes," she said, slightly breathless from her laughter. "Yes, I probably should." She started down the stairs with Neville before turning. "Come on Harry."

"Ten sickles Nev."

"Hermione!"

_I really hope this doesn't keep on happening. It feels like I'm a massive silencing charm._ Harry thought as silence once again blanketed the Great Hall on his entrance. He once again headed for the Gryffindor table and as he sat the whispering started. Most carried only what he had said in common room. There were a few blatant lies in amongst them, but that was normal. He had chosen a seat right across from Katie and now leaned forward as conversation started to pick up again. "You said you wanted answers. Ask what you will and I will do my best to answer them."

"I asked around after you went up. We all have a lot of questions but most of them boil down to a few crucial ones."

"Let me guess; where I was, why I vanished to get training instead of getting it from Dumbledore or the Ministry," he thought for a few seconds, "who I was trained by and maybe one or two others. Am I right?" She looked at him strangely.

"Yes...though there's only one other and it was surprising to see so many people asking about it."

"Really?"

"Yes." She paused. "They're wondering if you're going to continue with the DA."

"Did any of them say why?"

"A few. The general consensus was that after the attack on the Ministry last year they want to be able do defend themselves." Harry nodded.

"Good. I'll address that later. For now though." He cast a contained 'P.A system' charm over the Gryffindor table. "House-mates." They all looked around. "Over here." He waved and they turned towards him. "Katie has given your questions to me. For where I was, I can only say I was training. More than that would put you all in more danger and I do not wish that." He watched closely with both sight and Senses as they absorbed that. "Why...that is more difficult. I think I can safely say that after the Ministry's performance last year, I would be a fool to go to them for training. As for our esteemed Headmaster, regardless of all he _does_ know, there is still some he doesn't. I went to people who could teach me those things he doesn't know. I can't tell you who those people are but I swear to you again that they are _good_ people. To the last question she gave me from you," he paused, testing to see if he needed to spell it out, "pass the word people. I'll use the usual method to schedule the first one. Bring anyone you're willing to trust." He banished the charm as Professor McGonagall headed towards the table with new timetables. "Anything _you_ wanted to ask me outside of what I just answered?" He asked Katie.

"Well I was wondering when you were going to schedule try-outs."

"I'm not really sure. Within the next two weeks I promise you, I'll set a date when I can. For now though." He shrugged.

"I understand Harry, you need to get back into the swing of things. But if we don't have a team by next Sunday I'm going to kidnap you and _make_ you hold the try-outs." Harry laughed.

"Ok, I'll do my best. And don't worry, I'll be fair in my judgements." She nodded happily in response as Harry turned to Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter, I'm afraid I was unable to put together a timetable for you as I didn't know what you wanted to do."

"I'm sure you have one in there for me somewhere Professor." _:Avira, release the compulsion.:_ "There, you see." He pointed at a timetable under her arm. She looked down as if seeing it for the first time as the memories came flooding back.

"Oh! I'm sorry Mr Potter, I don't know how I forgot about it. Here you go then." She handed him his timetable and moved on down the table.

"Hermione, if you want to see my timetable, just ask instead of peeking over my shoulder." He said lightly and the brunette reddened slightly. "This once though, I'll let you off." He handed her the timetable and watched as her eyes widened.

"You dropped Divination?" She exclaimed softly. "And took Ancient Runes?" She turned to him, worry in her eyes.

"I read what I could over the summer and I've got you and your notes for catching up. If, of course, you're willing to help me."

"Of course I'll help you. Wait a minute, _how_ do you have potions on this? You didn't get an O in your OWL did you?" He shook his head.

"No, but I managed to 'convince' the Headmaster to let me continue my studies here. We're probably going to be making a rather advanced potion today though as I asked Dumbledore to let Snape set me a potion to make that anyone else of my level should be able to complete."

"I know I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised by you Harry. Giving Professor Snape effective Carte Blanche – even for one lesson –takes _guts_, that or a lot more trust in him then I have."

"I know." Harry said. "But I'm trying to prove by this that I am willing to work and work _hard_ for a place in his class. Representative of my parents or not, I'm pretty sure he will respect that." Harry said grimly. "Now I believe I have my first lesson in Runes right after breakfast. I need to talk to one of the first years I spoke with last night and then would you consider showing me where the classroom is?" Hermione nodded, and though clearly interested in what he wanted to talk to a first year about, she didn't ask.

"I'll meet you in the corridor then." She said, finishing the last of her breakfast and wiping her hands on a napkin. Harry nodded to her before making his way down the table to find the Gifted girl he had talked with at the feast.

"Isabella, could we have a quick chat?" Isabella unobtrusively brushed his robe with one hand as she turned to him.

"Yes Harry. What is it?"

"You said that Ron's robe felt 'bad' to you. What did you mean by that?" Her emotional barriers slammed down so fast Harry gasped.

"Nothing." She said quickly, starting to turn away before Harry caught her arm, casting several silent privacy spells.

"Isabella _please_, don't lock yourself down. I don't think you're insane."

"You...you don't?" She asked timidly, almost afraid to believe the belief trickling through her from Harry.

"No. Isabel – sorry, may I call you Isabel?" She nodded tentatively, "I have a Gift like yours. I know people who can help you with yours." She looked up at him with a desperate look on her face.

"You mean...they'll be able to stop me feeling everything I touch? They can teach me how to do that?" Harry nodded, taken aback by the floods of emotion pouring off her.

"How long have you been able to feel things from what you touch?" He asked, projecting calm and emotional 'warmth' towards the girl.

"It started when I was eight. There was a man at our house, he had brought something with him...I think it was a business proposal. I was going through what my mum called my 'curious' stage and wanted to see everything. I...I touched the paper of whatever it was – I never found out – and I just felt.." she shuddered, "it felt worse than your friends cloak. All I knew was that whatever was on the paper had been written to manipulate my parents into something bad. I made such a fuss about it that they cast a diagnostic spell on it to re-assure me. That...that didn't work out as they had thought it would. There was _something_ hidden in the paper. My dad said something about loyalty bonds." She trailed off as Harry suppressed the urge to do something truly stupid – in this situation – and hug her.

"Isabel?" She nodded, "I can get one of my teachers here tonight. Though they won't be able to teach you much in one night, they _can_ limit your Gift's effect until you have control. Would you like to meet her tonight?"  
"You'd do that, for me?"

"I would do it for anyone in your situation Isabel." Harry said gently, now focusing on calming the eleven year old down enough for class. "I'll get in touch with my teacher." He concentrated, sending out a call. _:Hedwig? I need you.:_ He was suddenly very grateful for Avira remembering to bring her through with him.

----FLASHBACK----

Harry lay back in the bed he had been given as the morning sun slanted in through the open window. He slowly sat up, wary for the head-aches Elani had said he might get as a reaction of the Gate. He swivelled, letting his legs bend to touch the floor and saw his – somehow no longer shrunken – trunk. He snagged his glasses and slid them on, somehow feeling something wrong. _What is it..._he thought, going through his morning routine in his head. Wake up, put on glasses, check Hedwig, his chain of thought ground to a halt. Hedwig! Where was she! His mind flashed back to the night – only two days ago, though it felt much longer – Avira had rescued him. Where had she been? _Out hunting, you idiot. Her cage was empty and you didn't have time to call her._

"Avira! Elani!" Both the named persons turned as Harry burst into their room, panic written on his face. "What happened to Hedwig! I never had her with me when I went through the Gate and then you blew the place apart and I don't know where she is and-" Elani placed a hand over his mouth.

"Shh." He felt a brief flare of wind on his back and spun, almost colliding with the snowy owl as she attempted to land on his shoulder and instead dropped onto his out-stretched arm. "She's just fine Harry. Avi' brought her through with him." She patted the amber-eyed bird. "She was quite insistent too." She laughed lightly as Harry half-hugged his familiar.

"I was so worried!" He whispered. "I didn't know where you had gone." Hedwig ruffled her feathers as if sighing. _:As if I would let you go anywhere without me.:_ He heard a wry chuckle in his mind and pulled back, holding the bird at arm's length with a shocked look on his face. Elani laughed.  
"I forgot, you are a very lucky wizard Harry. There aren't many magical owls with that level of ability." He looked even more confused. _:Silly Harry.:_ Hedwig shook her head as he stared. _:How do you think you could always find me or know how I was feeling so easily? Do you think _everyone_ has a connection like that to their familiar?:_ There was another mental chuckle. "She's _very_ intelligent, even by _Tayledras_ standards." She shook her head, all too aware that he didn't know what she meant by that. "I'll explain it to you later. For now, just accept that you have another new friend. I would suggest that you get to know her." She smiled as Harry hugged 'his' bird again before heading back into the main area of the _ekele_.

----END FLASHBACK----

:_Coming.:_ The snowy owl replied as she glided into the Great Hall. She circled the Gryffindor table once and then flared her wings, dropping directly onto her Bonded's shoulder. _:You need me for something Harry?:_ she asked and he had to stop himself from nodding.

_:Yes girl, I need you to take something to Elani for me, is that ok?:_

_:Why wouldn't it be?:_ She gave a soft hoot. _:Pass me a piece of bacon whilst you write and I'll even do it without destroying her disguise.:_ Harry smiled and chuckled mentally, snagging a few strips of bacon and levitating a plate to hold them at Hedwig's level.

_:Mercenary.:_ He Said affectionately, producing pen and paper and swiftly writing out a short note in Kaled'a'in.

_:Completely.:_

Finishing the last piece of bacon, Hedwig held out her leg for him to attach the letter to before launching herself upwards.

"There we go, she should have an answer back by lunch. I'll find you then or at dinner and give you a time, ok?" Isabel nodded.

"Thank you Harry." He waved it away.

"Don't thank me. I'm only doing what I'd do for anyone with an untrained Gift. I'll see you later Isabel." Dismissing the privacy wards, he headed for the exit.

"Harry?" The boy in question sighed as the voice floated across the students around him. He had got out of the Great Hall without any problems, but apparently Dumbledore was being nosy again. He pulled on Hermione's sleeve in an inconspicuous 'stop' request and turned to face the Headmaster

"Yes sir?" He asked politely.

"I was wondering, what was that letter you just sent?" Harry raised an eye-brow.

"Private." The bell rang, "And I need to get to class." Dumbledore opened his mouth, "Sir, this is my first lesson in this class. I want to make a good impression." The Headmaster fixed a smile on his face and nodded gently.

"Very well Harry." He conceded as the boy turned to his muggle-born friend.

"Would you be so kind Hermione?" She laughed and led Harry away toward towards the stairs to the classroom.

---------

**AN:** And there we go. Hedwig is now back in (sorry about taking so long with that, I just couldn't find a place up until this point). For those who may think Harry could have just Spoken to Elani about Isabel, yes he could have. But it wouldn't have had the same effect. Actively, physically doing something to get help will calm someone down a lot more than just saying it's been done. And I also needed to get Hedwig back. She's at least as smart as Hyllarr – probably a bit smarter actually – for any of you wondering. In regards to Ginny, I'm sorry about being horribly obvious about what sort of character I'm making her. I think that's just about everything I need to cover here so I hope you enjoyed my handiwork.

Again, thanks and cookies go to ShinjuKuroba; I do not deserve such a great beta. Thank you.

As usual, please leave a review on the desk as you leave and thank you for reading.

Wind to thy wings.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: **I apologise for the wait on this chapter, though I hope that by this point those of you who have been following this story from the start have come to understand that I write in spurts like this. Now for my usual pre-chapter review responses. Gina, I'm glad you're still following this and enjoying it. Nxkris, thanks. The whole giving Harry more power without super-powering him is one of the major parts of this story (and in my own way a jab in the face to a lot of current HP fanfic). And I wouldn't have created the Isabel character if I didn't plan on using her more. Shortness, I know where you've come from on this and I'm glad you like it. For more info on the cross, just type "Velgarth" into Google and read the wiki pages. It might not help a huge amount, but it will give you at least a basis of what the Velgarth world is like. LED429, I'm glad you like it.

* * *

It was very quiet in the classroom, _artificially_ quiet. The muted sounds of the previous class had long since faded into the low crackle of flame and the distinctive hiss of heated liquids. A dark haired man sat at the teacher's desk, sheaves of paperwork lying in disarray around him. He had been hoping to clear some of the perpetual backlog that all teachers seemed to attain eventually but his mind was far too busy contemplating the implications of what his next class might bring.

----FLASHBACK----

It was late – or early depending on your outlook on such things – when the sharp knock jolted him into the waking world. Severus had never really been able to do more then catnap, a trait that had served him well during the last war. Swiftly donning a robe, he hurried to the door and – upon checking who it was – opened it. As was usual for the first day of the year, it was Dumbledore. What was _not _usual was how shaken the man was. If Snape had to say one good thing about the Headmaster, it would be that he had only seen him loose his cool twice in all the years he had known him. Though not quite there yet, this would probably end up counting as that – so far elusive – third time. Severus didn't even need to guess the reason.

"Potter." He stated conclusively and Albus nodded slowly. "How bad?"

"About as bad as we could work out. He refuses to tell me where he was and what he was taught. His self-esteem and confidence have risen more than I thought possible in so short a time and I think I missed one of the copies of the Potter will." Severus had listened in growing apprehension but he started at that.

"You mean one of the true copies might have survived?" He asked incredulously. "I thought you said you destroyed the last one yourself." Albus sighed heavily.

"I thought I had. But unless you can give me another reason for why when I tried to enter his mind and ascertain where he had been for myself, I was met a mental snow-storm?" Snape winced at that description and he nodded grimly. "Exactly. He also asked me about the consequences for subverting the will of an Ancient household. That's what really got me thinking and then I remembered what you had told me about James' Occlumency shields and how they changed after he was emancipated and made Heir." Snape laughed inwardly. He remembered all too well how James Potter had changed after that day. Almost overnight, his demeanour had jumped to one which suited who he was within the school hierarchy and nothing Albus had been able to concoct had been able to reverse that change. Oh, he had tried, tried so _very_ hard to bring back the James he needed. But it had all been to no avail.

Something had awakened within James Potter on the day of his seventeenth, something that had induced a mental 'flash-maturity' as well as making his mind completely inaccessible. Dumbledore had never been able to determine what it was and neither the Potter family nor Gringotts had been willing to tell him. It was probably the main reason that he had allowed them to be betrayed from within the Order. Snape wasn't stupid enough to accept everything that Albus said and the deaths of the Potter boy's parents had felt suspiciously like a double-cross. Although Albus would never admit it, if he was ever asked Veritaserum Severus suspected that even if he wasn't the overt cause of James and Lily's deaths he would be forced to admit that their deaths had aided him.

"So you're saying that Harry has become another James?" He asked tentatively.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying Severus. And...I'm afraid that he made a rather telling argument about needing to continue in your class." He started.

"Albus, you must be-" He was cut off by the older man.

"No, I'm not. Though he did give you a concession." Snape suppressed an amused snort. "He said that you may set him any potion that a student working at his level should be able to produce as an assignment. But Severus, this _must_ be set to the whole class otherwise he will be able to contest it."

"And would he?" Albus sighed before replying.

"Yes, I am quite sure that he would. And with us not knowing how much he's been taught over the summer, we quite literally can't give him that chance. He could pull too much out of it." Snape nodded.

"So, what sort of alterations are we going for here? Total passive?" He asked, a hint of scorn edging into his tone.

"Not total, we've still got the people within the pupil base that we can use to push on him. But even they're going to have to scale back." Albus allowed a slight smile to creep onto his face. "This is a blow to the Plan Severus. But it is not a deadly one." Regardless of the confidence in that statement, there was a clear "yet" hanging off of the end of it.

"So I am to have Potter in my class again tomorrow and I am to set everyone within that class a potion that everyone in that class should be able to make. In that case, it should also be no potion that anyone could have read about or learnt previously." Severus paused, running through a short mental list. "Well, the Veritaserum anti-serum is pretty much down pat. All it needs is a bit more in the way of testing. I think that would count as something their level and the ingredients aren't that hard to replace. We have plenty of them on hand right now after the mix tests I've been doing."

"I just don't like the idea of giving something like that away Severus. Are you sure there isn't anything else?"

"Nothing that will fit the criteria that isn't either likely to kill half the class in the making or more dangerous for them to know about."

"Very well, I guess we will have to make do with that then." Dumbledore nodded once and for a fleeting second the consummate manipulator was gone, replaced by a weary man who had lived far too long. But only for an instant. Then the mask slid back onto his face and Albus smiled at his compatriot. "Well Severus, I must be off. I'm not as young as I once was." Standing quickly, he nodded to the teacher once. Then he was gone and Snape sat back in his chair, his emotions at war with each other has he was torn between anger and nigh-hysterical laughter. He flicked his wand at the cabinet beside the table and a calming draught flew into his hand. Downing it in one, be felt the emotions recede, allowing the return of the cold mistresses of logic and practicality. _So Potter wants to prove his worth to me in a test does he? Well,_ a smile twisted his face,_ I think this is going to be a bit more than he bargained for. Now just where did I put last year's cache of Veritaserum?_

----END FLASHBACK----

Now he sat at his desk, his quill scratching away at forms and reports whilst he pondered what he was about to do. He had no doubt that he could 'get away' with it. Even if it was used against him, his 'patron' was more than powerful enough to quash the problems that would arise. For all of his apparent loyalty, Severus Snape was a man solely dedicated to two things. His own survival and one Lily Evans. But it was the latter that now prevented him from fleeing to uphold the survival of the former. When Snape was truly honest with himself – something he avoided doing at all costs – he had to accept the fact that the real reason he couldn't stand Potter was that he represented a massive potential that Albus seemed intent on squandering for no reason he could decipher. A considerable part of his taunting was an attempt to force the boy to focus. Severus was absolutely certain that with the right stimulus, the boy could equal and surpass the Granger girl in terms of ability. He had the raw power; he just required the will to control it. But those were thoughts for a different time. Right now _he_ needed to focus.

He stilled his quill and with a quick wave of his wand sorted and packed away the papers on his desk. He caught up the small jar of silvery dust that had been lying to the side of the papers and emptied it into his hand. This would require both skill and speed to accomplish properly, and he wasted no time. This had to be done just before the class walked into his classroom. He opened a drawer in his desk and drew forth several vials of a clear, colourless liquid with his other hand. Laying them out before him, he drew a symbol on each with the dust. He dropped the remaining powder back into the jar it had come from before raising his wand above the glyphs. His wand spun and twirled in his hand as liquid sounds poured from his mouth, an aura of radiant magic building around the vials before him. His hand rose above the potions, his wand all but a blur as he wove an enchantment of shaping. Light flashed within the vials, the effects of their contents shifting, warping their effects into something more benign. It was still Veritaserum, just without the compulsion that forced you to answer. This version of the potion, more commonly used by therapists when they needed their patient to face the truth but within their own time; was slightly less regulated. It would suffice for this test and would neatly side-step the possibility of any – to use the muggle term – dirty laundry coming out in class. He sagged slightly as the power drain suddenly hit him and he fumbled for a replenishment mix. _I'm out of practice, that never used to take this much out of me._ He thought, annoyed at the fact that he was slipping. _I guess the less critical paperwork's going to take a hit then, this is far more important_. Downing the pepper-up potion derivative in one, he grabbed the desk with one hand to prevent a fall. There were problems with confining the visible side effects of a potion like this one. The higher concentration didn't help either, but it was needed. As the last vestiges of the surge dissipated, he flicked his wand at the vials of not-quite-Veritaserum, levitating one to every seat in the class. Everything was in place.

The bell rang a short time later. Sixteen students of various houses filed in over the next five minutes, splitting themselves amongst the tables as they usually did. The Slytherins naturally pairing with others from their own house while the other houses mingled together. He stood up as the quicker ones reached for their books.

"You will not require your textbooks today." His face twisted in his customary sneer. "As you might have noticed, Mr. Potter is still with us even though he failed to obtain the grade I require for this class. He has challenged me – and you – to a test to prove he is worthy of my teaching. Today you shall be brewing a potion that – whilst NEWT level – will be unknown to all of you. You may have noticed the vials on your desks. If you would drink them now." His sneer widened as the class looked at each other hesitantly. "Very well, if you are all too cowardly to trust me." He spun his wand, calling the vials away from the desks where they whirled before him. Thrusting a hand out, he plucked the first vial that his fingers touched, uncorked in and downed it in one swift motion. He let one long minute pass before speaking again. "Does that assuage your concerns?" He asked coldly. Grabbing an additional vial that he had prepared for this eventuality, he flung it into the madly circling vials before him before banishing them back to his pupils.

"But sir, what is it?" A dark haired Ravenclaw asked. "My parents always told me never to drink a potion without knowing what it was."

"It is the potion you will be brewing the counter for today. And as you saw, it is completely harmless. Now drink, otherwise we won't have enough time to complete today's work." He pulled a small bottle of swirling rainbows from his robe and swallowed a sip of the liquid as he watched the class down their potion. "What I just drank was the potion you shall be making today. It is a counter to the potion you just drank;" He smirked, preparing for fireworks, "Veritaserum."

"Veri-WHAT?" Draco Malfoy exploded. "How _dare_ you! I'll ha-" He was cut off by the rest of the class.

"Dosing anyone with Veritaserum is illegal without a ministry warran-"

"I thought you said it was sa-"

"But there _isn't_ a counter for Ver-"

He allowed the class to wear itself out, all the time watching the ones who said nothing. One of his Snakes, a quiet and almost unknown – by her own choice – woman known only as Maricela and the Potter boy. There were a few who shut up quickly, but only those two voiced no objection. They just sat there, waiting for the commotion around them to die or be brought under control. An invisible smile graced his lips as he watched them observe their classmates. He had been watching Maricela ever since she had been sorted into his house and she had proved herself to be a formidable power within the fledgling years. At this point she all but controlled more than a third of Slytherin outright though he doubted anyone but him and her realised it. But for all the power that could have given her, she used it only to maintain a strange sort of House anonymity. Only her teachers were truly sure of her house after second year, to anyone else she could be one of their own. She didn't surprise him with her silence. It was her way. Potter would have surprised him but for what he had been told earlier. At this point he was unwilling to take _anything_ for granted regarding the boy who had apparently reclaimed what had been hidden from him since birth.

"That is _enough_!" He snapped, coldness penetrating where volume would have been lost. Faces reddened before whitening. "I am not so incompetent as to dose you with interrogation Veritaserum. At least some of you _should_ have known that there is a medical version of the serum that does not compel one to answer. Do you really think the Ministry would allow the use of law-enforcement grade Veritaserum on children after last year's fiasco?" His voice had lost its coldness, now it dripped with vitriolic scorn. "The dose I gave each of you will last six hours. If you do not succeed in completing the anti-serum, you will have to let it wear off over that time. And whilst this version of the potion will not compel you to _answer_, if you start to answer a question, you will, by your own wish or not, answer truthfully. So," A good third of the class went white, "I would _advise_ that you complete this potion to the best of your ability or you may have an..._interesting_ evening." The resulting silence was deafening. Snape tapped his wand on his desk and the instructions for brewing the potion appeared on the board behind him. "You have two hours."

* * *

Two hours, several embarrassing confessions and a few silencing charms later, the class half-staggered out of the potions lab. But theirs was a triumphant exit; they had all completed their potions to an 'acceptable' standard and had received their anti-serum.

"When you said that we were going to be tested today, you weren't kidding." Hermione said wearily. "You know, I've always had a few doubts about Professor Snape's Mastery, but that potion is the work of a certifiable genius. I mean, all the attempts to counter Veritaserum so far have relied on breaking the effect of the potion by force. But this one..." her eyes sparkled, "it's incredible. It works _alongside_ the truth serum and cuts off the effects at their source. I mean-Harry?" Her voice trailed off as she noticed that Harry was clearly not listening.

"Hermione, I'm sure it's an incredible potion, but at this point in time I'm just too tired to care. I-" His Gifts screamed warning. Pushing Hermione and the red-head beside him down he spun in place, wand already out, to be met by a bolt of argent fire.

There was a single moment in the heart-beats before he was hit when Harry felt the world slide to a stop. Almost unconsciously, his mage-sight sprang to life, stabbing out at the spell bearing down on him and dissecting it and he winced internally. But just ahead of the spell he saw something that he had all but forgotten about. The delicate patterning of the warding spell upon his sword. _I'm safe._ Time sprang back into life at that thought, the spell crashing into the warding spell and turning the invisible shell into a sphere of blinding light. His world lurched as the sword-shields buckled under the stress the curse was putting on them. Without thinking, he grabbed for the closest source of Power, that curse could _not_ hit him. He threw the strength of his Gift into the shield, and then realised his mistake. He hadn't even Looked at where he was drawing power from. _Oh cra-:HELP!:_ Light erupted around him and his world went out.

* * *

**AN:** Mwhahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa

Ok, sorry. Moment of weakness to my insanity (please don't kill me). Anyway, I have Chapter nine all finished but it still needs betaing and that is going to take a while as my beta is currently in the midst of finals and on finishing she will be busy with work for a bit. For all those who may wish to pester her though, she's ShinjuKuroba ^^. Now....lets see, anything else to address. Yes.

Now, I don't know if there are too many errors in this for you to do this or if you don't see anything that you really want to tell me about but anyway. Some longer reviews would be hugely appreciated, they help me write better and give me something to work with in terms of what to do next. So please, give me a few reviews that are more then two sentences long, ok?

Sorry if I sound demanding here, but if you do give me some longer reviews I will be very happy. And a happy writer is likely to write faster.

So, shameless plug over. Please leave a review at the door as you leave.

Wind to thy wings.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** aeryn59, woooo that's a vote of confidence. Thank you, I hope I manage to live up to it for you. As to your questions, Harry didn't access The Hogwarts ley-line, he accessed one of the several dozen Lines attached to Hogwarts. Unfortunately he knocked himself out trying to stop himself drawing Power from a place he hadn't Looked first. Silly, but when you're this new to things, silly things like that happen. Your second question will get some answers next chapter. I can't really say more then that without spoiling a few things, sorry. Ookami, thanks for the multiple votes of confidence and I'm glad you like it. I hope this keeps up the standard you've gotten used to in the past chapters.

* * *

The past few days of Gift activity within her walls had scratched at the surface of her millennia long sleep. Mind-speech, empathy, mage-gift, all had chipped away the dust that countless years of dreaming had created. In their coming, Avira and Elani had weakened that sleep and Harry's frantic Call for aid shattered her dreams. But as she pulled herself free of the webs born from centuries of fitful imagination, part of her reacted. And, bleary eyed as she was, she could not yet fully control herself. An immeasurable stream of Power poured through her, reaching through the Lines that made up her existence to find the spark of fear that had triggered that Call.

* * *

The last of Avira's class had left his room when the frantic mind call blasted through him. He winced slightly as he sprang into motion, grabbing his 'wand' and sprinting for the door. ___:That Call is going cause havoc. Every Mindspeaker in the castle must have Felt it.:_ He thought, then focused,

___:Elani, I'm on my way.:  
_

___:What happened?:_

___:I don't know, I felt the wards on the sword flare and then Harry screamed for help.:_ He replied, sprinting down the corridors towards the dungeons. As he ran though, he felt something stir within the castle. ___:Do you feel that Ela?:_

___:Yes.: _Her Voice mirroring the awe in his with shock_. ____:It..it feels like a _Heartstone___!:_ Ancient power rose around the school as it answered the call of one of its wards. Vaulting the final banister, Avira dropped twenty feet to land in front of the staircase leading to the dungeons. Ignoring the stunned looks his landing had drawn, he threw himself back into motion as his Sight overlaid itself onto the world and gasped. He saw Harry, the light of his student's Gift and the sword at his belt linked by strands of shining Power and the shield around them buckling under the stress of a powerful curse. But there was more; the radiant aura of Master level Mage-gift wrapped within the mind of one of Harry's year-mates. He looked deeper, steps almost faltering when he saw the partially opened channels of the Gift. Elani screamed ___:Avi! Close yo-:_

___LIGHT-SOUND-POWER!_

Avira staggered, slamming locks down over his Senses as Power surged through the walls around him. His misstep carried him around the final corner, giving him a full view of the corridor as it exploded in an incandescent fury. "No!" His voice was lost in the screams of fear of the students before him and his hands rose, already weaving a spell. A massive shield bloomed out from his outstretched palms, invisible but for its effect on the energy pouring from the walls. Anchoring the shields, he cast their ground into the Void and raised his voice. "Come on! All of you, my shield can't last for long! Get out of there!" There was a moment of mass hesitation and then the remaining students still in the corridor ran for it. As they scattered however, Avira watched helplessly as Harry collapsed, his shields falling as his consciousness stopped feeding energy into them. His hands twisted again, desperately shaping a new shield in the few seconds it took for the curse to burn through what was left of the sword-shield.

* * *

Her name was Maricella Tedesca and she was the last of her House. She had always stood apart from those around her, never the same, never accepted. And that had always just been fine with her. Even within the wizarding world, she stood apart and knew it. Not just because of who she was, but also because of what she could do. Accidental magic for her had always been more controlled, almost easier than wand magic. It had been that magic that had allowed her to gain what amounted to complete dominance over the Slytherin house.

She had learned to recognise and trust the feelings and ideas it gifted her with. But she had not been expecting anything when she walked out of that potions lab and she ___had_ recognised the curse that Potter had pushed her aside to intercept. He had stepped into danger, not knowing if he could survive, for someone he hardly knew. All those thoughts flashed through her head as she watched him begin to collapse and she didn't even think. Her hands flashed out, grasping his sword and pulling it from its sheath. Instinct took over as the blade slid cleanly from its constraints and she rose to her feet, hands spinning the unfamiliar blade into the path of the curse. The sword flashed in the light around her as she poured power into its form and the shining weapon swept down, intercepting the curse not more than a foot from its target's face and batting it into a wall. She threw herself away from the wall, her magic unconsciously latching on to the two beside her and pulling them with her as the bolt of magic hit the pulsing brick and exploded like a nova. Shrapnel erupted outwards, cutting through the remains of the severely weakened wards like an awl and she closed her eyes, expecting never to open them again.

___:No.:_

A cool, almost sexless voice flowed through her mind and she felt something surround her, cupping her in a gentle, impossibly powerful, embrace. _:What the-_

___:You are safe child. My wards will not be harmed within these walls. Not whilst I still exist to protect them.:_

The sudden experience of another presence in her mind combined with magical exhaustion and the shock of almost dying was too much. Harry's sword slipped from her fingers in a clatter of steel and she collapsed beside him.

* * *

Alexander Arthwaes had never wanted to be special. He had graduated Hogwarts in the middle of his class and taken a post working for the Ministry of Magic. He purposely kept away from decision making or anything important. Instead, he found a position in the Department of Magical Surveillance. It was a sub-division of Magical Law Enforcement and monitored rouge magical activity. But this little-known department didn't bother itself with under-age magic. Oh no. They monitored the deep reservoirs of magical energy that no wizard had been able to touch for centuries. Their shifts were generally quiet, eight hours of reading or playing cards depending on who was working. They rarely had to do anything. But the last few months...now ___they_ had been interesting. First the strange localised cut-off that had blinded their sensors around the town of Little Whinging. That had been intriguing, especially when the 'jamming' – and it could have been nothing else – had cut off with a huge surge of energy that had almost blown out two of the monitors. There had been a few detections by multi-national departments that had been reported after that spike, but nothing major and the investigation into the explosion that had razed Little Whinging almost to the ground had brushed their evidence aside. There had been a few more stray readings popping up over the past three days, but again they were nothing that couldn't be put down to random surges in the energy pools. He and his colleagues had suspicions, but without a clear surge there was nothing they could do. A part of all of them really wanted another surge though, just to prove that they knew what they were talking about. They were about to learn a very old lesson. Be careful what you wish for.

"Anything new?" Alex called as he walked through the door into the Monitoring Room. He had taken a late lunch today as there had been a brief surge that he had wanted to track down around his usual time. This one had come from Hogwarts though, and that place had a lot of residual activity due to its warding scheme. It hadn't seemed like a normal spike, but it had been within the area limits so he couldn't report it.

"No, nothing. There have been a few more small spikes around Hogwarts again, but nothing outside of usual limits." Anne had worked her entire life for the DMS and had always been brilliant at tracking spikes and drains in the networks. "I still think the limits are too high. It's been centuries since the last major spike and all they're telling us is that it has ___nothing_ to do with the big 'nothing' that blew up most of a ___small city__._ Did you check the records like I asked?" Alexander sighed and nodded.

"You were right. The last time we had a spike like this the current DMS was put to what we'd now call Alert Level Two."

"Told you." She smirked. "This isn't 'natural change' and the records support that. But that idiot Fudge will be damned if he starts spending more money on a 'hold-over department'. The only reason we still exist is because we have direct funding from a non-Ministry account." Alex nodded. It was one of the strangest things about the DMS. It was an oddity within the Ministry, a department that regardless of its size and questionable need for existence (at least to bean-counting bureaucrats) had never had funding problems. It choose its own employees and due to its self-paying status had a bit more freedom in that area. Bu-

"Alex! Check Monitor 3 for me." Anne's tone cut through his day-dreaming.

"What is it? Another spi-Merlin!" His eyes widened as he looked at the readings. "What the ___hell_ is going on up there?" But his boss was already moving.

"I've seen these reading before Alex, on the warning tutorial." Their eyes met across the room and she nodded slowly. "It must be time. We ___have_ to be there." Her wand flicked, summoning their cloaks and she turned towards the other door in the room.

"No..." He whispered, "No ___way_."

"Yes way. What's behind that door was put there for this apparent eventuality. Now trigger the damned sequence and let's get this over with."

"Yes ma'am." Alex said softly, tapping a few of the runic controls in a sequence drilled into every new recruit, but never used until now. Flashes of colour jumped from the monitors, focusing into a rod about the length of his forearm beside the main panel. There was a slight tone as the readings transferred and Alex handed it to Anne. "I hope you know what you're doing Annie." She smiled slightly and patted his hand gently as she took the device.

"So do I. Stand back." He backed away as she stepped forward to stand right before the door, the rod held loosely in her right hand. She positioned it carefully in the slot carved into the front of the door before sliding it into place and giving it a solid push. Lights flared from either end, pouring out.

**Beep! Beep! Beep!** Alex spun as the alarm cut across his hearing.

"What is it Alex?" Anne asked sharply.

"The readings...they're off the scale, even higher then the ones this summer." He glanced back to her. "I'm initiating an emergency shut-down, if the readings keep on rising we don't know what could happen." His fingers danced across the control pad, cutting off the power connections and deactivating the consoles as the beeping grew louder and more insistent. He never heard the door open or the gasp of wonder that came from his colleague. His fingers flicked through the final sequence, the screens around him flickering...and then stabilising.

"Annie! The shut-down sequence failed and the readings are still rising! We have local failures on the cut-outs on Monitors 3 through 7 and the rest won't hold much longer."

"Get in here! I think whoever built this room knew the cut-off commands would fail. It's definitely safe."

Alex turned as the beeping solidified into a solid warning tone and hurled himself through the door. Sparks of fire flew from the monitors, the overload burning through the fail-safe systems as Anne slammed the door on the chaos erupting in their main office, the sounds cutting off abruptly. He steadied himself against the door, taking in what he had walked into. It was a small room, mostly bare but for a pedestal at the centre of it on which sat a thin book. An unbidden compulsion welled within him, he wanted to be in front of that book, leafing through the pages, exploring the knowledge it must hold. Unconscious of his surroundings, he was already half-way to the centre of the room when he felt the air solidify in front of him. There was a flash of light and then he was falling.

"Alex you ___idiot_! Don't you remember your training? We have to share the knowledge inside this place or we can never get to it." He sighed as Anne chastised him, but he did remember now.

"I...I'm sorry Anne, I don't know what came over me." She nodded curtly and helped him up.

"I thought so; you usually aren't _quite_ that stupid." He mock-glared at her and she chuckled lightly. "Well, now that we're in here and you're free of whatever compulsion affected you, I guess we try the next stage." He nodded and they held out their wands to each other. It was the other little known fact about the DMS, every person in the department was compatible with the others' wands for just this scenario. As they grasped each other's wands, there was a surge of magic within the room. Runes flowed into life around them, their radiant light wrapping them in a golden haze. Quickly shaking off their awe, they raised their exchanged wands at the pedestal before them.

"The Great Sleeper has awoken. By the vows of our order we must be there to greet her and welcome her into the waking world. We therefore beg of you to gift us with the knowledge promised to us to survive these events." Their voices melded as they recited the phrase from memory, the runic patterns around them shifting through sequence after sequence. Power poured from their wands, and from themselves too as the magic extracted a taste of their essence. The runes flashed and then the light held within them vanished upwards. A voice whispered to them both, its tenor suffused with age and at the same time alive with the quickness of pure power. ___:And you shall have it, my Guardians. But now is not the time for books.:_ Crackling energy stabbed down from the ceiling and if one with mage sight had been there, they would have seen tendrils of power latch on to the minds of those within it. All Alex and Anne felt was pain as knowledge flooded into their brains, battering aside Occlumency shields as if they were but paper. A few screaming seconds later, the last of the magic faded into the floor and an argent rod appeared in the air before them. With the knowledge that had been given to them, they knew what to do. They touched the rod with their wands and vanished in a swirl of colour.

Now, there had always been those within the Ministry who had wanted greater control over the Department of Magical Surveillance. But by the power of an ancient by-law, which could not be repealed without a ninety percent majority within the Wizengamot, they could not interfere directly. Ministry decrees could not apply to employees of the department and so the only recourse left to those wanting more control was passive means. Unfortunately for these people, funding cuts could not destroy the DMS and every attempt to infiltrate the department had ended in embarrassing failures for the parties involved. Additionally each failure had allowed the current head of the department to disable a few more members of the Wizengamot when it came to voting to repeal the law protecting them. At this point, even with about a fifth of the current seats in proxy ownership, there was absolutely no way to push through the 90% majority required. The Ministry knew this, and that left them with only one option. Annoyance bordering on harassment, and they had the perfect person to head this 'unofficial' campaign.

Former Senior Under-secretary to the Minister and the previous (and only) older of the post of High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, Madame Umbridge now had a new job. It was her first day, and she did not plan to let it start out unproductively. So she had decided to 'scout' her targets and see how vulnerable they would be to her special brand of persuasion. According to the duty roster, there would only be two people in the office today, each of far lower position then she. So she thought it would be a perfect day to begin. She opened the door to the office and strode in, there was no need to knock of course, these people were mere peons to ___her__. _

The first thing she noticed was that the office was empty. ___Oh good, slacking on the job. I can do __so____ much with th-__. _The second thing she noticed was the clearly audible tone sounding throughout the room. If she had been a few seconds earlier in entering the room, she might have seen the door slam on the other side of the office and put that together with the tone as a warning. Even then she might not have made it out fast enough. As it was however, she never had a chance. The screens all around her exploded outwards, flaming crystal slicing through the air, carrying with it an eerie whistle. The molten glass blasted through her like a shotgun blast, turning her flesh to ribbons and slicing straight through bone. She never even had time to scream.

* * *

**AN:** There was a lot of jumping around in this chapter, I know. And I also have brought in an entire new faction to the current situation. Sorry, but my muses demanded it. And they have swords. In regards to Umbridge, I'm not sure if she's dead or not. Probably _not_, but I'm not quite sure (the muses are still arguing). Apart from that, I don't there's not much else. As always (and I'm sorry I forgot this last time) a _huge_ thank you to ShinjuKoroba for betaing this, you are an absolute star. Chapter 10 is currently completely written and awaiting the hand of beta and I'm maybe a little over half-way through Chapter 11.

Please leave a review on the desk as you leave (and really, please do - they make me and the muses happy and that makes me write faster).

Wind to thy wings.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Well, I said the next chapter only needed betaing. And guess what xD

Ookami, I'm glad you still like it. As for Umbridge...my muses are still arguing but I'm almost certain she's surviving this. Which is annoying as I am probably going to have to write a death scene for her now. MalystryxII, thanks. With the Gift, well...that's an interesting story. Suffice to say that I didn't want to take the uber-mage-of-doom path and give Harry and Adept level Mage-Gift. For those that know the Velgarth world however, you've probably already realized that in its own way Projective Empathy is far more powerful. Especially in a situation were no one can block it. Tentrees...um...er...yeah. In all honesty, she doesn't deserve that sort of attention – not in my book at least. Taking the time and effort to do something that complex is just making her seem more important than she is.

This is a very dangerous chapter for this story as it's brings a bit more of the Velgarth cross in. Hope you like it.

_Beta's note: DO NOT eat sweets while reading the beginning of this chapter. If you do we do not promise to cover the charge for damaged teeth. We also take no responsibility for melted persons._

Stupid Shinju, hijacking my authors note...

* * *

She surveyed herself after the millennia of sleep, searching for what she had lost and gained. Her power had grown beyond anything that her original creators had been able to calculate, but that power now only extended to her walls and no further. There was something strange and powerful that held her back from the world beyond there and she did not understand it. But for now, only a part of her mind focused on that anomaly. The majority of her being was focused on those three of her charges that had been closest to the assassin and therefore closest to the vast pulse of Power she had blasted him with. One was OK, but that made sense. Her Gifts were either un-awakened or so passive as to not exist. The other two, if she could have winced, she would have. They were both suffering severe power-shock and if it hadn't been for their own non-Gift magic, they couldn't have come out of the experience with their Senses intact. From the minds of those within the school, it seemed that Gift magic had been forgotten or suppressed, she wasn't sure. Then again, she didn't know what had happened after the Gate.

-FLASHBACK-

The winter had passed, but one could not have told it by the frost that adorned her grounds in silken finery. :_There are,:_ she thought with no small amount of amusement :_some advantages to being without flesh and blood, however much I may wish for them on occasion._: She gazed out over her dominion, feeling the magic stretching, seeking the edge of her control. It was a more than daily exercise, stretching the boundaries to solidify them and spread them out further still. Her creators thought that someday her influence might spread from shore to shore, stretching out into the waters beyond. Somehow though, she doubted they'd be alive to see it. It saddened her, how the steady march of years wore upon her creators, those who had given so much to create who and what she was. But...it still hurt to watch them fade.

An energy source flared to life within her wards, almost blinding in its intensity. A circle of light grew out the air as she focused her attention on the location within the grounds, forming a figure out of her magic to examine it more closely. Reaching out tentatively, she slid one of her hands through the ring, 'tasting' the power within it. It was...strange, very strange, unlike anything she had felt before and almost otherworldly in its texture. It had sliced through her wards without her even noticing it and she had no clue as to what it was. She stepped back quickly, solidifying her avatar and sounding a discreet alarm within herself as she glimpsed what lay inside the blazing ring of magic. A score or more of figures, all dressed in strange robes, but it was what was behind them that caused her to pull back in alarm. Wild magic, an incomprehensible quantity of it, pouring through the other end of the whatever-it-was towards her. She dodged to the side as the first figure flew out of the portal and her magic sliced into the barely conscious man's mind, fastening on to the first form it located. Generally she could control the process, but she was too shocked by what she had just seen to do so. Her form shifted, an aura of soft light rippling out around her as part of the guise she was taking. She felt herself grow thinner, loose black armour replacing her light robe and then her vision blurred suddenly as her eyes warped. She 'blinked' for a second as she observed herself. Her skin had bronzed, robes replaced by black leathers with a sword at her side. But what stunned her were her eyes, eyes that held neither iris nor pupils. Instead there was only the star studded velvet of a cloudless night sky. She heard a gasp from the man at her feet as several more fell through the hole in the ground.

"Goddess, I beg of you, help us." He collapsed from exhaustion and she leant down in front of him, pulling power from within herself and forming it into the most powerful healing spell she knew. Laying an ethereal hand upon his head she let the power pour into him as another part of herself reached deep into the web of power that formed her being and wove a pattern of revitalising Power into the area around her. She looked into the portal again, seeing no more figures, only an unstoppable wave of uncontrolled magic bearing down upon them. Magic like that could fracture the very fabric of reality and that _could not_ happen. So she did something that she had always hated doing, ever since she found that she could. She sliced deep into the mind of man before her, searching for knowledge. A second later she looked up with purpose in her eyes. _:A...Gate. I guess it is an apt title. But it should have closed, there is no one here keeping it open unless-:_ she cut off her thoughts like an infected limb and focused on the Gate before her, tracing the web that held it together and desperately searching for a weak point as the magic surged closer. _:I can't find it...I don't know how to end the spell but I have to. I _have_ to! This dream will not die here!:_ She took a firm 'hold' on the ring of magic that was the terminus, reached into the heart of herself and pulled with all the power she could still muster. The Gate resisted, the wild magic holding it open twisting beneath her hands before collapsing as her will overwhelmed its capricious nature.

A burning blob of wild magic spurted through the rift as it closed, the very edge of the wave of power that had been pouring down the connection, and she flung herself between it and the helpless people around her. Her own magic flared around her, reaching out to absorb the energy as she raised her hands to meet it. The ball of Power slammed into her outstretched palms and the world exploded in light and pain. Pain...such a strange thing for an immortal to feel. Her vision blurred, the view around her fluxing as the wildfire of another _reality's_ magic tore into her being. Her vision shifted again, a million colours exploding into life around her before going black.

When she came to, Rowena was crouched beside her form. She could _feel _herself flickering, the wild Power still roaring through her, changing what she was from the inside out. She opened her mouth, trying to force words through the pain. "Mother...help me." Rowena looked up as the whisper reached her ears, eye's widening. "How are yo-No it doesn't matter. Take me inside and show me what happened." She shuddered and shook her head.

"It's...it's not safe." She reached deep into herself, grasping the small part of herself that was still unchanged and shaped it into an illusion. "Lo-look." She gasped out, holding out her hand as the image swam into being above it. Her 'teeth' grated silently as she forced the illusion to hold its form. "Are...are they safe?" She asked softly between changes.

"The people who came through that porta-"

"It's called a Gate, Mother. But yes, them." Rowena reached out and caressed her cheek.

"They're all fine. A few have something that looks like magical exhaustion, but you kept them safe." Her eyes darkened. "Quite possibly at the cost of what you are." Tears sparkled in the Founder's voice as the words slipped through her lips. "Cerys, I have _no idea_ what hit you and without knowing that, I can't help you. And it's changing you, I can tell that from my connection to the school. I can't imagine how much pain you it must be causing you."

"I...I've been better, can we leave it at that?" Rowena laughed, choking back a sob and Cerys was about to reach out to her when a pair of arms lifted her gently so she could stand and held her steady.

"Rowena, we have to get her into the castle if this is going to work." Her mother nodded, her control breaking as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"I...I know Godric. I just..."

"You're going to put me to sleep aren't you." It wasn't a question. Cerys looked between two of the four most important people in her world and sighed. "How long is it going to be before you realise I can read all four of you like one of Mother's textbooks?" She laid a hand on her mother's shoulder and squeezed gently. "I know you hate to do it, but you don't have a choic-" Her voice cut off as a new wave of pain swept through her and her 'body' shuddered under the stress. She struggled to raise her head before letting it fall. "Uncle, take me home." Godric nodded shortly before gathering her up in his arms and sprinting for the school, the years falling away for a few short minutes as she poured what little Power she could still touch into him. Tearing through the Entrance Hall, he took the stairs five at a time, heading for 'her' room. She Felt Rowena hurtling through the Hall behind them, her wand weaving a board of solid air beneath her feet. She quite literally flew past them, calling out to alert the other Founders. A faint smile formed through the pain. She already had.

The doors to her heart flew open as her mother shot through them, spinning once to lower her speed and then dropping gracefully to the ground. She swept her hand round, raising Cerys's bed out of the floor and calling up the warding circles. Here in her heart, things like wands were a scarcely needed formality. Salazar and Helga came running into the chamber just behind Godric as Rowena was raising the last of the wards to protect their most precious creation.

"Rowena, what happened?" Salazar cried, the shifts he was feeling in the school hammering through him. Godric laid their collective daughter on her bed as Rowena explained.

"I don't know all the details. I think she was playing with her boundaries again and noticed the Gate. I have no idea how it got through the wards, much less where the people who came through it are from but she threw herself in front of them to stop a bolt of wild-magic. And before you ask Sal, I already tried to cleanse it. This stuff is _weird_, everything I've tried either reflects off or is absorbed without a trace." Cerys's eyes flickered open again, she had passed out again on the way to the room.

"Father..." She moaned and he rushed to her side. His eyes widened as her form flickered before him.

"Cerys...how?"

"I had to save them Father. I know, I know, I should have thought first but there wasn't the time. I'm sorry, I was stu-" She was cut off by his finger on her lips.

"Shhh, love. You're not me remember. You're all of us. Asking you not to save them would have been like me asking Godric to think before he acted."

"Hey, I always think before I act!" The man in question retorted.

"Yeah, you just ignore the logical conclusion." Salazar shot back jokingly.

"As much as I enjoy the humour," she hissed as another spasm shot through her, "I think there's something you need to do." He nodded sadly and she reached up to stroke his cheek. "In case I don't get the chance before you go, you've been the best Father I could have ever wished for." She gestured her other parents forward and held out her hands. Godric and Helga grasped her right whilst Rowena and Salazar clenched her left so tightly she would have suffered blood loss were she human. "I can never thank you enough. Mother, for giving me a mind that the best would envy. Helga, my Aunt for the discipline to use that mind. Godric, Uncle, you gave me courage where I thought there was none and the strength to reach beyond what I was. And Salazar, you brought it all together and added the thirst and ambition to do great things with the gift you gave me. If it all ends now, I could not have asked for a better life."

She lay back on the bed, Helga pushing the pillows up beneath her head and closed her eyes as her Creators and parents started to chant. She felt the magic pour through the words, sliding around her mind and lifting her away from the pain coursing through her. Golden warmth surrounded her, its gentle radiance the precursor to the land of dreams and her eyes snapped open. All four of her loves were in tears, the crystalline drops pouring down their faces as they sent their greatest and most loved work away. She squeezed their hands gently and they looked at her.

"Is it done?" Rowena nodded, tear-drops soaking into her robes as they fell endlessly. "Rowena, Salazar...hold me, please." Cerys whispered, her own control cracking at last with her voice. Their arms went around her, holding her tight as they had when she was young and she surrendered herself to sleep. But not before she heard a final, heartfelt promise echo through her mind.

_:Child of our dreams, our love for you will never fade. So we all swear. Nostrum amor ero a contego pro totus infinitio . Sleep safe and heal:_

-END FLASHBACK-

The emotions from that day shot through her as she remembered. She had no idea as to what had happened after her family had committed her to sleep. That said, she could feel the changes within her. Her old self had been tied to several physical foci, although it had started with one. There was her room itself, that had been the first. Next had been a series of portraits throughout the school that had allowed her to follow her parents around before she managed to manifest. There had been one in each of the common rooms, another in what had been built to be the Headmaster's office and the ceiling of the Great Hall itself had been the final one. With her ability to manifest within her area of control, she was mostly freed from them, but could still access them. Now though it was as if the entirety of Hogwarts had become one huge focus, saturated by her being. It would take an event that levelled her to her foundations to destroy her now, and even that might not do it. She wasn't sure, but the focusing effect seemed to penetrate deep into the ground itself. But that was not the only thing. Her control over the area around her seemed absolutely complete, though untested. She could _Feel _the ley-lines within the grounds and was quite sure that she could divert their flows as she wished if she bent her mind to it. But more was the fact that she could feel the lines and nodes within her boundaries. And then there was the wealth of knowledge on Gifts that had somehow found its way into her head. She was _reasonably_ certain that it had come from the active scan she had done of the people who had come through the Gate but a part of her wasn't sure. Then again she hadn't had the time to absorb anything beyond the mechanics of Gating.

Unfortunately, there were more pressing issues on her mind. There were Gifted within her walls, but only a tiny portion of them seemed aware of it. That made no sense from what she knew of Gifts, especially as many of them were active. And yet...what she knew of her own world's magic forced her to think awakened Gifts might somehow be subsumed into a witch's magic. It certainly didn't seem impossible and if there was one thing she had learnt as a creature of magic it was that even impossibilities were far more likely then you might think. But even that anomaly wasn't on the top of her list for things confusing her. She was bound to her grounds. When she had fallen asleep her area of control had extended leagues in every direction, almost reaching the Western coastline. Now though, she could not reach beyond her walls. There was a barrier, almost as if someone had tried to bind her and failed. In that case though, it must be a fairly recent development as a binding of the sort of power would break almost instantly when the caster died. And only a wizard in his (or her) prime could have pulled off something that powerful. So that left only a few options and none of them were particularly palatable. The most likely, and most disturbing, possibility was that the headmasters of previous years had done it and passed the binding down to their successors. She couldn't take that as a certainty, as it was possible that either a very powerful student or teacher had tried it in the past hundred years or so. It just wasn't that likely. She wasn't willing to discount it, but the first option was definitely the most likely of the three. So, first things first. Portraits.

Her eyes slid open and she took in the room before her. There was a fully grown phoenix sitting on a perch across from her portrait, his perch surrounded by at least a dozen tiny tables filled with silver instruments. Her eyes flicked over to the headmaster's desk, still unchanged after centuries of use. Portraits of the past Heads were scattered around the room and as her eyes flicked open, several of them gasped. She said nothing, simply surveying the room before her, taking in everything. Her eyes flickered as she pierced the entire room with her Sight. _:Well, what do we have here?: _She thought, observing the highly enchanted pieces of monitoring equipment and following their connections. _:Spying on your charges are we? I don't think so.:_ She closed her eyes, letting her portrait fall back into sleep and focused on those instruments monitoring people within her walls. Magic swirled into the room, charging the air like static before a lightning storm. Tiny sparks of magic arced onto the instruments before her, their power building towards true strikes. She sensed the gargoyle in front of the stairway move aside and smiled inwardly. The door opened and she unleashed a series of blinding strikes. She heard the current headmaster cry out as the magic seared into his vision, temporarily blinding him with its intensity. Manipulating her magic with practised ease she wove herself into being, positioning her body so that it appeared sitting behind the Head's desk. As the eyes of the elderly man in front of her cleared, he glanced around him, eyes widening as he saw the havoc she had wreaked upon several of his trackers before snapping to his desk as she cleared her throat.

"You are the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, yes?" She asked coolly, layering a compulsion to answer truthfully into her words.

"I...I am." The man stammered, shocked to the core by her appearance.

"Good." She smiled and he paled.

"Who are you and what do you want? As Headmaster of this school I _order_ you to answer me!" She felt his will attempt to break through her barriers and she shook her head slowly, obsidian locks falling around her cheeks.

"My name, little man, is Cerys." The door behind him slammed shut and a multi-layered pattern of warding slammed down around the office. "I want you to break the binding you have upon me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He responded waspishly.

"Oh really?" She cocked her head and leant forward on the desk, the silver of her eyes meeting his sapphire. "Lets find out if there's any truth to that statement." The air rippled between the two of them and Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot collapsed in a boneless heap.

Raising herself from the chair in front of the desk Cerys turned, locking eyes with the portraits around her. "I know the magic of your frames can tell you what I am. Do not fear. I have absorbed the memories of your successor's mind and I know that you are not responsible for the binding upon me." She pointed at the crumpled figure in front of the desk and moved him into the chair in front of the desk, letting his body slump as if merely asleep. "But he will not remember me until I will it and none of you will tell him before then." She raised her hand, silencing their voices before they could speak. "No, you _won't_. I don't want to but I _will_ make sure you can't if I have to." The past Heads of the school all shrank back in their portraits and paled. "So, do I have you collective word?" She asked softly, releasing the bonds of silence.

"You do." They replied equally softly.

"Thank you. I would not have wanted to bind you so you could not speak of this." She frowned, her mind still assimilating the memories then pointed at two of the tables of instruments. "Those need to go as well." She sighed. Two bolts of light flew from her fingertips, shattering the tables and the instruments that rested upon them. "Your successor is _not_ a trusting man and neither is he to be trusted. Think on that, all of you." And with that, she gathered the magic of her form around her and vanished into the air.

* * *

AN: And there we have it. Not as much jumping around as the last one, but at least the same amount of information. Now, just something I need to explain in regards to my views of a) the Founders and b) Hogwarts.

a) The Founders, in my view, were simply a group of rather powerful – I guess the correct term would be enlightened – wizards (and witches – damn JK for the stupid gender separation ^^) who wanted to pass their knowledge on to others. Maybe it was their idea, maybe they were just copying another school, it doesn't really matter. But above everything else, they were still human. I don't like the idea of the Founders being all-powerful god-mages or anything of that ilk. The only thing that made them special was their vision and the fact that they managed to accomplish it. A thousand years on, legends about them make them seem unstoppable and all knowing and – well you get the picture. And one thing I need to make very clear, I'm not doing anything with the Founders in regards to how they paired. Maybe they had partners outside of their little group, maybe they didn't. How Cerys refers to them however, is not a representation of what their relationships were in real life.

b) Hogwarts was the school built by the Founders, but it was also their child. It was a project that probably took a considerable portion of their lifespans to complete and was a dream made manifest. I don't see them leaving something that important without a protector. But of course, there's more to it then that. The basic idea for Cerys (hard c, not soft) is that the Founders gave a part of themselves to create her. She is them at a much deeper and more profound level then any biological child. I mean, they'd all have their reasons for sacrificing what in essence was a part of their soul (don't call me on that soul bit, I'm not discussing it further lest this stray into philosophy and the arguments that stem from such a debate) but she brought them together around her like nothing else could after they had completed their dream. There's a song I once listened to a long time ago that asked "If my wish is granted, what comes after?" Think about that for a moment. They needed a new focus otherwise they'd tear each other apart and they were smart enough to realise this. The reason Cerys refers to Rowena and Salazar as Mother and Father is because they gave the biggest parts of their being to create her. Rowena because she wanted a chance to pass more of herself on then a daughter who had betrayed her and Salazar (at least at first) because he wanted to have at least a part of him live forever (or for so long as to make little difference).

There is though, one more rather important fact. Cerys, in terms of maturity, is somewhere between 16-18 years old (remember she's a been asleep for most of her life). And within her grounds she basically has the power of a god. There's more to it then that, but the rest can wait until I get to a point where it's relevant. Sorry for the massive second authors note.

Thanks, ribbons and cookies all go to ShinjuKoroba for betaing once again.

I hope you liked this chapter and please leave a review for me on the desk as you leave.

Wind to thy wings.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN:** Dreamweaver! You're back! Sorry, I've missed your comments. As for those in Harry's real group of friends...well you get one this chapter (you should be able to work it out and if not you'll get a proper explanation next). MalystryxII, she's not exactly a Heartstone but that's probably the closest analogue for what she is. Ookami, I'm glad you continue to like it.

More at the bottom.

* * *

Rising out of the darkness of sleep, Harry stiffened as feeling returned to him. Oh God did his head hurt. He didn't remember hitting anything...for that matter he didn't really remember anything after leaving the potions lab. There was a flash of silver light and a feeling of immeasurable power wrapping around him but beyond that there was nothing. He inched his eyes open and stifled a groan. _Not even a day into the term and I'm already in the Hospital Wing, great_. He thought with a touch of annoyance.

_:Hey, it's not our fault you never learnt how to dodge.:_ Elani said wryly _:And I think you owe the lady in the bed beside you a rather substantial thank you; according to Avi she saved your life.:_

Harry twisted his head slightly, forcing his eyelids to open. His eyes widened as his Sight saw the same thing that Avira had.

_:Oh you have _got_ to be kidding.:_ He sighed mentally and then jumped as Elani spoke.

"I'm afraid not. Her Mage-gift is not quite fully opened, but we think she's going to settle out as a mid-level Master." She turned away from the young woman and Harry felt the fading fear resonate off of her.

"We almost lost you there Harry, would have too but for _something_ interceding on the behalf of you, Hermione and Maricella here. She," Elani gestured at Maricella, "pulled your sword and poured enough Power into it to give her a reaction headache she is not going to _believe_. She then batted the curse that broke through the wards on the sword into a wall that was at that moment quite alive with Power of its own. Avira hasn't had the chance to past-scry the event so we're not sure of the result of that, but from how it Felt he thinks the wall exploded. We're not sure what protected you from the explosion, but he's almost _certain_ he saw shields around each of you in the moments before the presence vanished." She looked as if she would say more, but the sudden sound of a door opening stopped her and she winked at him.

"So _you're_ Harry Potter." Poppy Pomfrey heard her new assistant exclaim excitedly. For all that her hair was white, Mrs Leysha seemed far younger then that would imply. Then again...there were moments where she doubted it, when the latest patients to her ward had been rushed in was currently the most telling example. The bubbly joy that she had been steadily getting used to had vanished in an instant. And that didn't make sense.

According to Elani's record, she was only just out of her Healer courses. She had blown the top off of the placement tests, but nearly every Healer Poppy had met had frozen up when presented by their first real patient. It was for that reason that the apprentice system was still used within the Healing profession. But with Elani there had been no such freeze. In truth, she had moved even faster then Poppy in dealing with her patients and she had only had a few days to acclimatise to the infirmary. It was almost as if she – No. She cut off that thought abruptly. She was jumping at shadows; Albus wouldn't have hired someone unless he trusted them. She pushed the curtains around the three beds aside and stepped through them. "What's it like being The Hero of the wizarding world?" She smiled slightly and laid a hand on her assistant's shoulder.

"Leave the poor boy alone Ela, you'll smother him." She joked lightly.

"Well then isn't a good thing I'm a good Healer." Elani laughed. "According to the diagnostic spells he's fine, just needing some rest." She touched Harry's hand and the boy slumped in the bed, his eyes sliding closed. Before Poppy could protest, she had deftly steered her out of the curtained area.

Drawing her wand she pointed it at the doors to the wing and twisted it in a strange pattern before turning to face her senior.

"I have some questions for you Poppy." Her voice was cold and _very_ quiet and the nurse recoiled at the tone.

"What did you just do Ela? And what is it?" Elani looked at the wand in her hand and then lowered it between them, the point just out of line with the older Healer.

"How long have you known that Mr Potter's been subjected to extensive physical abuse almost since birth? And why shouldn't I report you to the Healer's councilfor unethical conduct and the violation of your _Healer's Oath_?" The last two words came out between clenched teeth.

"I don't understa-" Pomfrey started and her eyes widened as she was cut off with a sharp gesture.

"Don't give me that!" Elani hissed, her eyes alight with cold fire. "I used the same diagnostic spells that you use and you've treated Mr Potter _dozens_ of times over the past five years. Don't you _dare_ insult my intelligence by trying to tell me you don't know what I'm talking about." She paused, visibly fighting for calm. "I couldn't even _count_ how many times his bones have been fractured and broken. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a wizard, he would have been dead a decade ago – at the very least. And this is just the evidence of what I can see. I don't even want to _think_ about how emotionally – and mentally – damaged he must be."

"I...Elani, there are reasons for this. I can't explain them and I don't like concealing this at all, but it's needed." Pomfrey spoke passionately, her right hand inching towards her wand and Elani sighed.

"Have you forgotten the Oath you swore on becoming a Healer? _'I will keep my patients from harm and injustice.'_" Elani quoted softly. "I remember, even if you do not. Be it for reasons you find palatable or not, you _have_ violated your Healer's Oath." Poppy's eyes hardened and her hand moved faster then most would have thought possible, bringing up her wand in a blink of an eye.

"_Obliviate_!" The spell splashed onto Elani's head and she smiled. "I'm sorry Ela, bu-"

"Not as sorry as you're about to be." Elani stated coldly and the older woman suddenly found herself unable to move. "You didn't read my record properly. If you had, you would have known that memory charms don't work on me." Pomfrey struggled in the bindings around her, but could only move her eyes. "Poppy, I'm not going to kill you. In all honesty, I pity you more than hate you. But I can't have you telling Albus about this so I'm just going to make sure you can't remember this little conversation." Elani shook her head sadly as she wove the compulsion into being around the Nurse, but didn't waver. As much as she hated doing this, it was too dangerous to not do so. She had hoped that Poppy had not been a willing part of the intractably crafted lock on the chains around Harry's freedom but the realistic part of had been almost certain the she had been. There were too many things that have needed to be removed from the nurse's mind if she had not been a willing ally. Locking the compulsion around the nurse's mind, she touched her forehead. There was a brief mental struggle as Poppy tried to fight against the Mind-Healing backed command before collapsing into Elani's arms.

Elani sighed sadly as she caught the Healer. _:I _liked _her Avi. She was nice and cared about her patients. I just...why is it that no one here is truly what they seem?:_ She Sent sorrowfully.

_:I don't know Ela.:_ Avira replied, comfort and love texturing his Mind-voice. _:And I don't understand it either. It makes no sense.:_

_:No. It doesn't. I – wait a second.:_ Her Voice turned speculative and she snapped her Sight open, lancing through the magic around the witch before her. It unerringly pierced the haze of magics and Elani inhaled sharply. _:Oh that bastard!:_ She thought fiercely. She stepped back, using her magic to hold Poppy up as she examined the enchantment that constrained the woman's mind. It was almost a compulsion, not quite, but very close. Unfortunately for its continued existence Elani was an Adept with decades of experience. Something that simple didn't stand a change. Tapping into a nearby node, she lashed out with the Power she drew from it, isolating the command sections of the enchantment within heartbeats and tearing their structure apart. There was a burst of light around Poppy's head as the breaking compulsion released its energy into the world. Twisting her magic around the woman, Elani moved her gently onto one of the beds in the Ward before heading back to work.

* * *

A whirlwind of colour erupted within a dark chamber, shrinking into two figures grasping a silver rod. The artefact clattered on the stone of the chamber as it was released, the man and woman who had been holding it up slumping and grabbing each other to hold themselves up.

"Alex, you ok?"

"I..Yes. Though I've felt better." There was a pause as the figures straightened. "What the hell was that Anne?"

"Some sort of specialised Portkey I think. It would have to be for it to do this."

"Huh?" The female figure, Anne, gestured around them. "Oh."

"Yep. I don't know exactly where, but we are somewhere in Hogwarts. Now where do we go from here?"

"That way." Alex gaped in shock as his hand rose without direction from him, pointing down a particular corridor. "Ok, what the _hell_?" He tried to lower his hand and failed. "Anne, I think that's whatever the Room dumped into my head talking." She nodded.

"In that case, that way it is." Casting a silenced _Lumos_ from the wand she was holding, she advanced down the now lit corridor. Alex shook his head for a second, as if clearing it, and then headed down the passageway himself.

Dust rose around them as they walked, their footsteps echoing along the stone corridor. Neither of them said a word, each following the knowledge the Room had placed within them. Anne stopped for a second and crouched, brushing the dust away on the ground before her. Catching her colleague before he could continue forward, she cleared away the rest of the dust before her. As the centuries of collected dirt cleared, a runic pattern took shape. Reaching down with Alex's wand, she touched one side of the pattern and chanted an obscure incantation. The runes sprang to life, magic rippling through them and the entire corridor erupted with light. As their eyes cleared, a translucent film of magic shimmered into being around them as thousands of other runes sprang to life before them. Marks of power, of unmaking and destruction stretched down the corridor and Anne swallowed. The sphere of power contracted, solidifying as it did so. Cobalt light shimmered on its surface, shot through with golden stars before the entire construct collapsed around them. A disc of aquamarine fire exploded outwards, sweeping the length of the corridor and snuffing the runes out effortlessly. Soft lights flickered into being above them, as if encouraging them and the two walked forward once more.

Silence settled around the duo again as they approached the end of the passageway. As the lights exposed what awaited them, they saw a door with no doorknobs or handles. Instead there were only two holes bored into the patterns that criss-crossed the wood. Acting on the final instructions within their minds, they raised their wands and slid them into the smooth punctures. There was a grating sound and light flared around their wands, returning them to their true owners. A line of golden fire slashed down the centre of the doors and they swung open. Their eyes widened. The room before them was simple enough. An expansive bed, a table with four chairs and a fireplace. But the entire room pulsed with a visible aura of magic. It took their breath away as they stepped forward and the power filled them up, sweeping their minds away in the indescribable music of Power. Light swirled before them, forming the figure of a young woman. Black hair tumbled down around an elegantly formed face and two grey eyes, shot through with sapphires, lit with sharp intelligence. A robe of archaic design surrounded her, its tone so dark a blue that it appeared black.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Her voice was cold, but Anne recognised the fear behind it.

"My name is Anne and my colleague here is Alex. We were sent to welcome you back." She said carefully.

"Welcome me back? By whom? The person who bound me?" Fear turned to anger and silver eyes hardened, the room turning cold and hostile as she blinked.

"What?" Alex exclaimed. "You've...you've been bound? But the wards...that shouldn't have been possible! We would have noticed!" The walls of the room started to pulse with magic and he flinched.

"Oh really? So you monitor me? And that's meant to make me trust you?" White light wrapped around her hands and they both stepped back. Anne almost raised her wand and then whitened as she realised what it could trigger.

"Alex, drop your wand." She said clearly, laying her own down on the floor of the chamber. As he followed suit she raised her hands before her, palms open. "I...we were told that your name was Cerys." The woman before her nodded sharply, but did not relax. "We both work in the Department of Magical Surveillance. We are tasked with monitoring the ley lines and nodes for shifts and changes. We also watch for magic that uses that power as the last person to do so died almost ei-"

"The last person to do so is currently in my hospital wing recovering after almost burning her Gift out due to not knowing what she was doing." Cerys spat. "There are at least six people in this castle that one day might be able to access Nodes; almost three times that could access ley lines if they were taught how. How have you not noticed?" Her gaze stabbed into Anne, their eyes meeting and acting on intuition (or maybe a last piece of knowledge from the Room) she collapsed her shields. The grey eyes widened ever so slightly and she felt a presence within her. The air rippled between them as an entire life flashed before Cerys' eyes. Her gaze softened and the tension within the room receded to safer levels.

"I...see now. And I think I understand." She said quietly. "Mother, Father, forgive me. I thought you had forgotten me." The last sentence came out in a whisper and both of the humans in the room remained silent, unsure of what to say. A few minutes later, she raised her head, eyes sparkling. "I think I have a pretty good idea of what you are here to tell me, but I am very tired." She pointed at a wall and the air around her hand flared with soft light as a door appeared. "There are rooms through there where you can stay tonight. The elves will make sure you are well cared for." She raised her hand to stop any protest. "What you have to say has been kept unsaid for almost a thousand years. It can wait another night." Her form shifted, its colours melting away into shining radiance before vanishing into the air.

* * *

"Neville, where's Harry?" The boy in question jumped, surprised by the voice. He turned quickly and then relaxed as the girl behind him giggled at his start.

"Merlin Luna, don't sneak up on me like that." Her giggles turned to a friendly laugh.

"You shouldn't let yourself lose your awareness like that then." He cocked his head as if waiting for something more and she laughed again. "No, I'm not going to cite a funny creature to explain it away. Although if you really _must_ have one -"  
"No, it's fine Luna." He said quickly. "It's just...strange."

"So me being 'normal' is now strange?" She smiled. "In that case I should do so more often; it's fun to throw people off occasionally." He shook his head, smiling as well. "But you haven't answered my question." He sobered and her smile vanished

"Something happened." He nodded. "What?"

"No one's quite sure." He said quietly. "The story's range rather widely, but as best as I can put it together, he got attacked by someone whilst leaving potions. And whoever attacked him wasn't a pupil. But that's not the strangest par-" Luna was already in motion, heading for the Library's exit. "Luna!" He cried, scrambling to his feet and running after her. As he caught up with her she swayed unexpectedly and grabbed a handful of his robes to steady herself. She shook her head for a second and then looked up; her eyes clearer then he had ever seen them. He flinched from the sapphire gaze and when he looked again it had faded, clouded over.  
"Sorry Neville." She said softly, before her tone turned light "Thanks for being a good wall."

"It's..no problem. Where are we going?" He asked.

"Hospital wing. Where else would Harry be?" Neville could have kicked himself.

* * *

**AN:** So, Chapter 11. Here we are. Something that I do feel obligated to say, Poppy is one of the few among Albus' pawns who will have been under a not-quite-compulsion to do what he wanted. It's not going to be a stock thing, most of his followers have been completely willing.

That's really all for this chapter, except for the usual:

Thanks, ribbons and cookies all go to ShinjuKoroba for betaing once again.

I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review for me as you exit.

Wind to thy wings.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** Sorry for the massive delay (I've had both this chapter and chapter 13 ready for quite a while but couldn't convince my muses to let me post them). So they woke up again today and informed me I was posting and posting now. I hope you haven't all lost interest. And Ookami, thanks again.

* * *

"Um, Healer Leysha? Sorry to bother you but we were wondering if Harry was here." Elani looked up, eye's surveying the two who had just walked into the wing. Harry had talked about them, praising them highly in fact. She reached out quickly.

_:Harry, Luna and Neville are here looking for you. Would you like to see them?:_

_:Here now? Sure, send them in. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to work out where I was.:_

_:Ok, I'll let them through.:_ She Sent back and then addressed the teenagers before her. "Please, I've never been one for formality, call me Elani. As to Mr Potter, he just woke up a few minutes ago." Their faces fell and she waved it aside. "But he's well enough for visitors. Just don't wear him out, ok?" Their expressions reversed suddenly, bright smiles spreading across their faces. She stood and led them through the curtains around Harry's bed, pulling the drapes between his and the other occupied beds with a wave of her hand. But not before Harry's guests noticed Hermione. "I take it Miss Granger is a friend of yours as well?" She asked quickly, stopping the curtain's closure.

"Yes Hea- Elani." Luna replied, slightly ill at ease – for once – with the informality. "Is she well enough for us to speak to as well?"

"I'm afraid not, Mr Potter here was luckier then both the others involved. Miss Granger, whilst not directly in the path of the curse passed out due to some form of magical drainage. We're not sure how it happened but currently we're treating her for magical exhaustion. She should be better in a day or two." She allowed the curtain to finish closing. "I'll be outside, call me if anything happens." She slipped through the curtains and smiled, making her way back to her chair.

"Hey guys. Figures doesn't it." Harry said brightly, grinning ruefully. "First day of term and already in the Hospital Wing."

"You really should stop doing that Harry, if you're not careful this year you're going to get a personal bed." Luna said, only half-jokingly and he laughed.

"I know, I know. But I think I can truthfully say that I didn't run headlong into this particular mess." Luna sighed and shook her head.

"Maybe, maybe not. Just try not to do it again."

"I'll try." Neville laughed.

"And what do you think the chances of you succeeding are? Care to place a bet on that?" Harry shuddered.

"No thank you. I, unlike certain others," he grinned at Neville, "don't throw away money." He shook his head. "I am a bit surprised at how fast you found me though. Which of it was you?" Neville pointed at Luna and Harry nodded. "Should have guessed really."

"Yes, you really should have. I had a feeling something had happened but I couldn't quite place what. The Wrackspurts were being annoying you see." Harry laughed.

"I'm sure they were." Neville looked between the two, a confused look on his face as they both started laughing.

"I'm missing something here, aren't I." They both nodded. "And you're not going to tell me either." They shook their heads through the laughter and he shook his own in exasperation. "Well then, I'll just leave you two to laugh at each other," he said, putting on an aloof tone which just made them laugh more. "If you feel like explaining everything, I'll be in the library." Stopping at the curtain he turned back again, sobering. "Honestly though Harry, I'm glad you're safe." And with that he was gone.

"Thanks Neville." Harry said softly, before turning his head to look at Luna who had sat down on his bed. "So, you knew." She nodded.

"I can't really describe it. I just _knew_ that something had happened that involved one of my friends." Harry sighed and cracked open his Sight.

"Sweet Merlin!" The exclamation slipped through his lips, almost like a prayer. His mind flashed outwards. _:Bloody hell! Elani, I am about to call you in here. How could I have missed this!:_ The last part seemed almost an afterthought.

"Harry? What is it? Should I call the Healer?" Luna asked quickly and Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. Luna, you remember what I told you on the train, right? About Avira." She nodded. "Well...I didn't tell you and Neville everything, there just wasn't time." He cocked his head when she laughed.

"Oh Harry, we both knew that there was more you wanted to say. We're not stupid you know." He blinked, reaching out with Empathy. "You're about to tell me something and you're not sure if I'm going to accept it. Just spit it out." He nodded shakily and then continued, keeping a close eye on her feelings.

"Well. I'm not quite sure how I can explain this but here goes. When I said I was away, I really was. I was a _world_ away. In a place so different that I am almost thankful to return here, despite it's flaws. And the reason I was taken there was because I had a Gift of that reality. I've noticed more people here that have such Gifts as well – I'm not sure as to why. The girl in the bed there," he pointed at the curtains opposite Hermione's, "has one and so do you." He raised a hand to stop any protest. "Trust me, you do. I think you need to meet someone." He raise his voice as the woman before him started to react to what he had just said. "Elani, could you step in here for a moment."

_:I know you've been piggybacking. Do you have any experience with Foresight?:_

_:I'm afraid not Harry. And neither does Avira. We've got what we've been taught about Foreseers, but neither of us have ever had any experience training someone in that Gift. The basics are always mostly the same though.:_

_:All right, I guess we teach her those basics and use that time to try and learn what we need to know about Foresight.:_ Elani responded with a surge of agreement and then stepped through the curtain.

"Luna Lovegood, meet Elani K'Leysha, one of my teachers from that world." Luna gaped for a few seconds and then recovered.

"I knew there was something off about how the Wrackspurts get on swarming around you!" Elani arched an eyebrow at Harry who shrugged.

_:She's who she is:_

_:So I see:_ Luna looked between the two and cocked her head.

"Why do I get the sudden feeling that you two are somehow talking to each other without me realising?"

"I am cut to the quick, Miss Lovegood, that you would think we would do something so underhanded and decep-" She rolled her eyes and mouthed Dumbledore. "Damn...you've got me there." Harry exclaimed. Elani seized the opportunity to cut in.

"Luna, I will admit we have a slight problem with your Gift." She sighed. "Both me and my partner – yes, that would be Avalorn – have a lot of experience in teaching Gifted. Unfortunately neither of us have any experience with Foresight and with a Gift as powerful as yours we really need a proper teaching." Luna's eyes widened.

"Foresight?" She whispered. "You mean I'm going to be able to see the _future_?" Elani shook her head.

"Not exactly. From what little I know of it, a Foreseer will see many different possibilities of the future, only really knowing which one will happen a candlemark – sorry, an _hour_ – at most before it occurs. Some say they get feelings about things that _will_ happen in the next month or longer, but they're vague at best." She paused, considering a last thought. "Considering what I've heard though, the few people who have had Foresight as powerful as yours are wickedly dangerous fighters."

"We know what's coming before it happens..." Luna's voice trailed off, her mind suddenly jumping out ahead of herself, thoughts travelling pathways that she had never imagined. "And that explains it." Her voice strengthened. "I have seen things since my mother died, strange things, some more horrible then I would ever wish to describe. I recognised parts of some of them but I never gave them any thought." Elani winced.

"Powerful emotional upheavals have been known to trigger the awakening of Gifts. Luna, I hesitate to ask but I need to know. When did your mother die?"

"Seven years ago. She was quite a talented witch, but everyone said she was too curious for her own good. One of her spells went awry one day and she.." She swallowed and Harry quickly enveloped her in a warm confidence. "She died." Harry reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

"Thank you." She nodded, shaking her head.

"It's nothing, really. It was seven _years_ ago and it was qui-" A gentle hand covered her lips.

"I have a confession to make Luna. I told you I have a Gift of Elani's world. I actually have two, but the important thing is this. I have an Adept level Empathic Gift, both projective and receptive." He smiled sadly. "I never knew my parents Luna. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to loose the woman who – I hope I don't presume much here – took care of you for most of nine years." She shook herself, shaking his hand off but her eyes were sparkling.

"No! It was seven years ago! People die every day and it just happened that fate decided her time was due! I-" Tears were streaking down her cheeks now and Harry reached out with both his hand and his Gift.

"Luna Lovegood, you were a friend to me when I needed it most. You believed me when everyone around me thought I was mad and you followed me into deadly danger on the strength of that conviction. You have never truly grieved for your mother, not in all those seven long years of visions and signs." He pushed himself up with his other hand and shimmied down the mattress until he was beside her. "Don't try and lock your sorrow away with platitudes, it will only hurt you."

"I...I..." She raised her head as he slipped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Their eye's locked and she remembered.

-FLASHBACK-

Thick, oily smoke billowed into the summer sky, marring the day's beauty and she rushed towards its source.

"Mummy!" Her bare feet pattered on the ground as she hurtled across the garden towards her mother's laboratory.

"Luna! No!" Her father intercepted her just short of the wooden building, catching her up in his arms as a group of green clad men and woman appeared from the open door into the laboratory. She struggled against his hold, but she was only nine.

"Where's Mummy, Daddy? Where is she? And why are there people from the big hospital here? And why were they in Mummy's Laboratory?" The questions poured out of her and in later years she would recognise the expression that crossed the Lead Healer's face. It was pity. Pity and a sadness that would break your heart.

"Mummy's just fine love, she was just talking with these nice peo-"

"Then why is there smoke?" Luna asked indignantly. "Mummy says to never light fires in her laboratory!" The Healer touched her father on the shoulder.

"Sir, we have to move her if she's going to have a chance." He said softly, but urgently.

"Fine, fine. Just let me get my daughter away, I don't want her to see this." He started towards the house, trying to placate Luna every step of the way. "Mummy's just fine Luna, she was just playing with a new spell and made a mistake, she'll be perfectly fi-oof!"

"MUMMY!" Luna screamed and she broke from her father's hold as two Healers exited the building with a pale, blonde haired woman she recognised. Daddy tried to catch her, but he was too slow and she sprinted across the distance to her mother to stop short. "Mummy?"

Celosia Lovegood was a woman of normally pale complexion, but now her skin was almost completely white. Her breathing was slow, almost slow enough to not be there at all and her eyelids flickered open and closed as she was carried outside. When Luna called her she started slightly and for a moment Luna thought that it had all been a game; Mummy was about to spring up and tell her everything was all right. The moment passed. The Healers caught her before she could get to her, caught her and lifted her gently away, shielding her eyes. She fought tooth and nail but again, she was only nine.

"Mummy! What's wrong! What's wrong with here? Tell me! Please!" The words poured out of her to be met by more sad looks, more pitying glances. The two Healers holding her mother vanished with the signature crack of Apparition and she went limp, all of her energy leaving her as her mother vanished from her world.

Her daddy had said everything would be fine. He had lied. When the Healer came to fetch him with the same look on his face, she knew. When he tucked her into bed that night, refusing to answer any questions as he usually did, she knew. And so her sorrow was buried, hidden beneath layers of bitterness and betrayal-wrought pain.

-END FLASHBACK-

Luna collapsed into tears as the pain so long denied release crashed down upon her. Her emotional barriers, set deep inside so many years ago to protect herself and pushed far beyond their breaking point by both physical comfort and Gift, shattered. Harry almost pulled away as the girl gave a strangled cry and then threw herself onto his shoulder and sobbed. But he stopped himself, somehow. He felt her pain pour through her like water and he hugged her awkwardly, the simple action only redoubling her cries. Sorrow stabbed at his heart, rippling around his friend, but not remaining. His Gift reached out of its own accord, wrapping them in a shroud of emotional 'warmth' and lifting Luna away from the pain as it poured out of her.

"I never forgave him for what happened that day." She whispered, bitter tears flowing down her face. "I tried, but I just couldn't. He lied to me and robbed me of the last moments I should have had with my mother." Harry didn't say a word. He simply held her, his Gift lifting her away from the crushing grief and slowing its inexorable advance. Bitter tears moistened his robes as they dropped from her chin.

It took almost twenty minutes for the tears to stop coming, but Harry wouldn't have cared if it had taken twice that. He had known grief, but in it's own way what had happened to Luna had been worse than anything he had ever experienced. She had had time to know and love her mother before being robbed of her, far more time then he had had to get to know Sirius. And as young as she had been, she had probably rationalised her Foresight as something her mother had kept away, feeding into more pain and something very close to hatred directed at her father. As the sniffles slowly faded away, she pulled gently out of his arms. She looked up at him tentatively, her normally carefree eyes hooded and filled with apprehension. He reached out to her and squeezed her hand, smiling sadly.

"I understand." Those two words almost undid her again. "Not fully, but I can relate to what happened to you." Their eyes met and he dropped his mask. Her rebuke died on her lips as it fell, his eyes swirling with sorrow and regret. An instant later it was gone, but she had seen what she needed to.

"Thank you Harry." Emotions swirled between them, emotions Harry could not name or understand. There and gone again, he could not translate their fleeting nature. Unconsciously moving closer, Harry suddenly remembered the original meaning of their talk. Looking up he saw that Elani had vanished back into the infirmary.

"Luna, do you think you're up to talking about your Gift again? Or would you like some time to absorb it all?" He asked softly and she smiled.

"Can I just...sit here for a bit?" She asked tentatively.

"I guess so. If you're sure it will help." She nodded and moved closer again, hugging her friend.

"It will. I...I feel safe here Harry, here with you. I have not felt safe in so very long." She smiled up at him and he felt a tide of emotion sweep through him. Peace, sincerity, joy and complete trust all poured into him across the medium of his Gift and the sheer intensity of the emotion scared him. He opened his mouth to speak and then stopped and slowly laid back, Luna beside him. As his eyelids began to droop, he spoke.

"Luna?"  
"Hm?"

"I'm about to fall asleep." She tensed slightly as he continued. "You can stay if you want, I just wanted to make sure you knew." He felt her smile.

"Thank you Harry. Tell Elani to wake me up for dinner."

**AN:** So there you go, have another Gifted. Yes, it's cliché and I'm sorry about that but my muses told me at the very beginning that Luna was getting Albreich level Foresight. I'm basically going to work her Gift as Albreich's (for those that don't know what that means you can either look it up or wait and see). I think there will be some interesting stuff for everyone in the next chapter, although I just realised I need to do some more editing. So expect it up sometime in the next week (as long as my university courses allow it – which they should). I hope you liked this one and please feel free to drop any thoughts into a review or pm.

Edit: Sorry I forgot this Shinju (please don't kill me). Many, many thanks go to ShinjuKuroba for continuing to beta.

Wind to thy wings


	13. Chapter 13

**AN:** Karou, thank you very much for your kind words. Alia, thanks. Author...now lets see. Thank you for the advice. I've changed the description now and we'll see how it goes this posting. As to your question, I'm afraid I can't really answer that at this point. We'll see ;)

Many, many thanks once again go to ShinjuKuroba for betaing this. Enjoy.

* * *

Harry woke when Elani shook Luna awake for dinner. As she pulled herself up, Harry felt a strange feeling stab though his mind. Elani chuckled softly as she watched his expression as the blonde slid through the curtains. "Harry, if you're feeling up to it you should be able to go to dinner. Just check back here afterwards, I want to be able to keep an eye on you tonight."

He looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"That would be nice." She smiled and breezed back out of the curtained area as he started to change, motioning to Luna to stop her leaving.

"Harry should be well enough for dinner in the Great Hall, just keep an eye on him for me." Luna started to smile before quashing it with worry.

"Are you sure, I wouldn't want to make him wor-" Elani shook her head.

"Luna, you being here has helped him more than any healing magic. The heart is a strange thing, but it has more power over the body then anyone in this world can understand. _Especially_ so when Gifted are involved." Elani squeezed the young woman's shoulder and her smile softened. "And I suspect he was just as good for you as you were for him." Luna flushed, her breath hitching slightly. "Don't worry, although he is an Empath, he is still very young in that regard. Quite possibly younger than you. He knows he felt something from you, but he's still trying to figure it out. And even when he does he'll probably think he's mistaken until something forces him to act." Luna stared at her and she laughed lightly. "Luna, there's a lot you don't know about me and I come from a world where cultural norms and the like are very different." She cocked her head, smiling. "And I'm also a lot older then you think." She heard the curtains move back and turned. "You ready to go Harry?" He nodded and started forward before stumbling slightly. Elani reacted quickly, but Luna was faster. Her blonde hair flowed out behind her as she darted across the room, catching Harry before he could lose his balance completely. He shook his head to clear it and straightened quickly.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled, embarrassed, "I guess my feet missed the floor." Cheerful laughter greeted his sally and the embarrassment faded away. "After that I think I will need some help on the stairs Luna – if it wouldn't be too much trouble." She smiled shyly.

"Not at all." She moved around, letting him lean gently upon her. "Now, let's go tell the rest of Hogwarts that you're still alive."

"Alright."

* * *

Luckily for his – now slightly battered – dignity, none of the staircases tried to move as they made their way to the Great Hall. There were a few moments where he almost lost his balance on the stairs, but Luna seemed to sense them coming and was able to brace herself each time. They ignored the looks they were being thrown as they got closer to the entrance hall as well as the progressively louder shouts coming from that area. Coming out on the stairs that lead straight down into the Great Hall, they had a perfect view of the not inconsiderable argument raging between a certain redhead and Dean Thomas.

"-don't care what you thought! I don't need you any more!" Ginny hissed at the boyfriend she'd been so happy to announce to all and sundry the night before.

"Oh really. Who are you going to be deceiving this time?" Ginny, in a moment of what Harry would inevitably call the worst form of luck, glanced up the stairs before answering.

"Harry Potter. And how _dare_ you accuse me deceiving you!" Dean recoiled as if slapped and she pointed up the stairs, her eyes going soft. "We realised that we love each other after the incident this afternoon and we don't want to waste a moment of it." Ginny turned away from the now forgotten Dean and headed up the stairs as most of Hogwarts drew a collective breath, no one willing to contradict her statement until Harry responded. Harry stifled a sigh; he had suspected something like this might have been in the works this year, but he had expected Albus to at least try to judge his capabilities before throwing Ginny at him. As she got closer he saw her mouth move as she spoke the words of a very complex – and old – spell. Harry opened his mouth to tell her she was severely mistaken on the status of their relationship before a lance of pain shot through him. _What the-_ the thought cut off abruptly as he felt an enchantment shimmer into being within him. _Damn it...passive...masked by core...opening my barriers..but wh – oh how could I have been so _stupid?

The world seemed to slow and a tendril of thought not his own tore through his weakened shields as his emerald eyes met the brown of Ginny's. He felt her reach into him, finding his perception of her and, after a sudden flash of anger, start to warp it into something far more...intimate. And suddenly he realised that Dumbledore had never given up. He had used almost every method he could think of to bring James back into the fold, but none of it had worked. Potions were either detected before consumption or cleansed soon after, Legilimency simply didn't work and every compulsion he tried to place was fought off too quickly for him to use it. But in the years between the James Experience and now, Albus must have prepared for this possibility. And the first thing he had done was place a powerful passive enchantment upon Harry when he left him with the Dursleys. It was simple enough in its effect, but more importantly it was completely undetectable until activated. It hid itself within the latent interference caused by a wizard's magical core and it had grown as Harry did. He had given Ginny the spell-phrase to activate it earlier in the day and it, at least, worked as advertised; bringing Harry's mental defences crashing down around him. What Ginny was doing, however, was a form of Legilimency that had been lost for centuries before one of his contacts had found a set of scrolls detailing its use. Whilst normal Legilimency allowed you to – in crude terms – read someone's mind and implant suggestions within, the form Ginny was now using did the same to emotions. And this, for almost everyone involved, was where the problems began.

The Empathic Gift is seen – at least by those who observe such things – as one of the rarer and certainly one of the more actively dangerous Gifts. Keeping a secret from a Receptive Empath is almost impossible if they want to find out about it and although they can be overwhelmed with emotions, that can only happen to one who is untrained. But a Projective Empath...that is far more dangerous. A projective can reach into you, find your worst memory and throw it in your face. An Adept level Gift like Harry's could play with emotion as easily as a child plays with toys. And Harry still did not have anything close to complete control over his Gift. So when an exterior force tried to tamper with 'its' province, it reacted and brought his other Gift along too. Even if Harry had had the ability to stop it, he never would have had the time as his Gifts exploded into life. A shockwave of invisible power erupted from him, shattering every piece of glass within fifty feet – consequently alerting the teachers in the Great Hall that _something_ was happening – as his Mage-Gift tore the now revealed enchantment apart. However the _visible_ effects were far less pronounced than the non-visible ones. As his Mage-Gift disintegrated the enchantment upon him, his Empathic Gift leapt out far beyond his control. It drove Ginny reeling back into her own mind, dissolving the changes she had attempted to make in the process. And then, following the wish for vengeance within his subconscious, it followed her in.

Power sliced through the girl before him, digging deep into her being to find what she had found in Harry. Her perceptions, her feelings for those around her. Reaching out, it latched on to two images and hammered a mental command into them. The command was akin to the one she had tried to use on Harry, but this one was temporary only. It would degrade and, eventually, it would fail. Unfortunately for Ginny, "eventually" would be at least a month. Its revenge now firmly in place, Harry's Gift pulled itself forcefully out of Ginny's mind. The results, whilst less violent then they could have been, were not kind.

Ginny had been hammered back into her mind by the mental assault of Harry's Gift. Completely unprepared for the sort of power she had faced within Harry's mind, she unconsciously tried to take a step back. This left her wobbling on half of one foot in the middle of a particularly steep staircase. The swift and utterly uncaring pull out of the Gift in her head pushed her back even further so she was already loosing her balance when the magical shockwave slammed into her. Ginny was the closest person to Harry bar Luna – the blonde in question was seemingly unaffected by the wave of power – and therefore was the first person in almost eight hundred years to be hit by a power-wave. The main effect of the wave was not a noticeable one, but it caused a slight imbalance in her magical core that – while it would fix itself within days – would be rather painful when she woke up. The more obvious effect was the several feet out from the staircase the wave proceeded to propel her. The resulting collision with the ground was heard by a third of the Great Hall as Ginny Weasley, rendered unconscious by the overwhelming power of an Adept level Gift, went flying down the stairs she had climbed, hitting the ground _hard_.

Harry tightened his grip on Luna's arm, almost shaking with a mix of fear and rage. Tamping down his emotions and tightening his hold over his Gifts, he raised his voice.

"Someone get her to the hospital wing! That sounded painful."

"Why don't you take her, she's _your_ girlfriend." Dean spat and he sighed wearily.

"Dean, the only people I have seen since potions have been Madame Pomfrey and Healer Leysha in the Hospital Wing, Neville, and Luna here. If you want, you can ask Healer Leysha to verify that. Look, I'm quite sure her fall was heard in the Great Hall. Regardless of what she may have done, she doesn't deserve to die!" Dean looked just about ready to continue arguing but before he could rejoin the fray, Lavender Brown stepped out of the crowd and quickly levitated Ginny.

"I'll take her up Harry. You get something to eat, I think you need i-"

"Let me through!" Harry suppressed a wince as Professor McGonagall's voice cleared a path through the crowded students. "What in Merlin's name just happened? And Harry, why are you out of the Hospital Wing?"

"Healer Leysha said I was well enough to attend dinner as long as I was back in the Hospital Wing for the night. On reaching the Entrance Hall, Ginny made some rather confusing remarks involving a relationship we supposedly have. What happened after that," he swept his hand out, palm up, the small gesture indicating everything around them, "I have no idea why whatever caused it happened." McGonagall looked at him for a long moment before nodding.

"Very well. If no one disagrees with that interpretation of events then I'll take Miss Weasley to the Hospital Wing myself." No one spoke up, although that could have been down to the state of shock most of them were still in. The Professor cast her own levitation upon the floating redhead and started to hurriedly ferry her up the stairs towards the infirmary.

Harry slumped against Luna's supportive presence as his adrenaline rush faded. Luna tensed as he fell, holding him up as he regained his balance.

"Are you all right Harry?"

"I've been better." He ground out through clenched teeth. "But I need to be at dinner, if only to show that what happened this afternoon didn't do anything truly harmful." She looked at him strangely and then nodded.  
"You mean you need to cultivate your image." He stopped his head snapping round to stare at her through sheer force of will. "I know what this is about Harry, I wasn't put in Ravenclaw simply for how I saw the world." She chastised him gently before lowering her voice. "I'm sorry though, I didn't See this at all." Harry waved it away quickly.

"Luna, the one thing that was just demonstrated quite clearly to me is that you never really are capable of controlling your Gifts. And if you could see everything coming, it would make life boring, wouldn't it." She smiled briefly and nodded. "So," he gestured at the doors to the Great Hall, "shall we?"

"I do believe we shall."

They stepped through the doors of the Great Hall, preceded by the crowd that had gathered around the fight between Dean and Ginny. A wave of whispers preceded them as that crowd melded into the tables and spread their stories followed by silence, rippling out behind the whispers as heads spun and eyes sprang wide. They had all felt the wave of power that had swept through the hall moments before and almost every member of the hall gazed in unconcealed confusion – and no small amount of fear or awe – as the whispers spreading ahead of the silence attributed that wave to Harry. Then the brighter people in the crowd began to connect things. He had come back recently from who-knew-where, was attacked and then protected through unknown means and just shattered every piece of glass in the Great Hall, from the top of the Entrance Hall staircase. Harry stifled a sigh as he felt sparks of insight leap through him and wondered what the rumour mill would have churned out by the morning. He moved slowly down the corridor between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, trying his best to conceal his reliance on Luna's support. Struggling not to slump or close his eyes, he sat down as easily as he dared at the Gryffindor table. Luna hovered at his side for a moment and he smiled. "Sit down. I doubt anyone will argue the point." A small smile tugged at her lips as he spoke and she sat down beside him.

"Thank you Harry."

"Thank me when you need to help me up." He laughed, only half-joking.

"You know, there's this little thing called _magic_, Harry." He drew back quickly, turning to face her and feigning shock.

"There is? You must be joking, Miss Lovegood. Magic isn't real."

"Oh I assure you, Mr Potter, it is _quite_ real." She responded gamely, her smile spreading across her face into what was almost a grin. "And if I have to, I'll prove it to you." He held up his hands in mock fear.

"Please! Don't turn me into a toad!" She choked back a laugh and shook her head. "What?" He inquired innocently.

"You." She said simply. He looked at her strangely and she shook her head again, her smile turning enigmatic. Something strange swept though him like an electric wind and he opened his mouth.

"Lu-"

"Harry?" A soft voice cut him off as a hand tapped his shoulder. He turned and saw Isabel standing behind him, her face set. He felt worry and fear radiating out from her and reached out to grasp her hand. She shied away for a second before he caught her hand and her face changed as her Gift kicked in.

"Hey." He said softly. "I'm still here. And my promise to you still stands." He made no attempt to let go, simply letting her read through his touch down to the very core of his being. "You ok?" She jumped, startled out of the trance he somehow knew she had been falling into. She nodded, but her eyes told him everything he needed to know. She stood there for a few more seconds, the sparkle of tears fading from her aquamarine eyes. "If you come up with me after dinner, you can meet the person I told you about." He stopped, knowing she had to make the next move.

"I...ok Harry. And thank you." She turned away and made her way back to her friends.

_:So plotting lessons so soon, I see. You do realise Elani is going to hurt you for this, yes?:_ He heard Avira's wry voice echo through his mind.

_:I'll have you know that this one at least, I told her about previously. So she may be...slightly more inclined not to kill me?:_

_:Keep telling yourself that Harry, you might even convince yourself that it's true:_ He Felt more than heard the laughter in his mentor's voice and a smile tugged at the edges of his mouth.

_:So are you going to past-scry tonight?:_ He asked. Avira's tone changed abruptly, becoming more businesslike.

_:That's the plan. I would do it in the Hospital Wing, but there'd be the chance of someone bursting in and interrupting us. Regardless of their necessity in some things, I really don't like using compulsions on people.:_

_:I know, that's why if you had said you were going to do have done the scry in the Hospital Wing, I would have told you not to. Elani can tell me tomorrow.:_

_:Can and will, Harry. That's enough chat for now though, you need to eat.:_

_:Yes mother.:_ Harry Felt Avira chuckle again before the connection subsided.

"Harry, if you don't start eating I'm going to make you. And it won't be pretty." Luna said gently as he came back to his senses. He stifled a laugh – as he was quite sure she would make good on that threat if she had to – and took the plate that Luna had filled for him with only a touch of resignation. Elani had told him about power-shock previously and had told him about what it could do if you didn't take steps to remedy it. And he suspected that she had told Luna that he had to eat very well at dinner.

So with that in mind, he finished his plate quite quickly, just as Luna was polishing off the last of hers. Deciding by mutual consent to skip dessert this once, Luna unobtrusively helped him to his feet and they began to make their way back towards the doors to the Great Hall, silence rippling out around them as they did so. No one tried to stop them, or even question them, although that, he knew, would have changed by the next time he was allowed out of the Hospital Wing. For now he was just thankful for the peace. Uncontrolled Gift use combined with power-shock had stressed the innate healing powers gifted by a wizard's magic to their absolute limit and he knew that he was going to pay for it in the morning. He touched Isabel on the shoulder as he passed and she quickly excused herself from her friends group to catch up with him. He slowed his pace slightly so that she could walk at her own pace and they walked through the doors of the Great Hall to complete silence. Luna looked back and grinned impishly as people flinched away from her stare. They moved out of sight of the people within the Hall, starting the long trek – at least for Harry in his current state – back towards the Hospital Wing and the Great Hall exploded with gossip behind them.

**AN:** No new Gifted this time, but I think I can offset that through the main action sequence in this chapter. I'm about three-quarters/half way through Chapter 14 but I'm not sure when it'll be finished. Hopefully within the next few weeks. Anyway, please feel free to drop any thoughts or critique in a review or pm, it will be greatly appreciated.

Wind to thy wings


	14. Chapter 14

Elani sat in the Hospital Wing and fretted. Professor McGonagall had come up shortly after Harry left with an unconscious Ginny Weasley and a rather interesting explanation for why she was unconscious – as well as on closer inspection concussed and suffering from a minor imbalance in her magical core and the channels around it. Considering what she and Avira had been able to gather on the Weasleys at least half of them were firmly in Albus' camp, the one currently in the Hospital Wing one of the most firmly entrenched. There wasn't a single sign of compulsion on her, although there was the very edges of a rather strange spell in her mind. Unfortunately it was so old that Elani couldn't tell more than the fact that it had definitely messed with her head. The main question in her mind was who had cast it, as it wasn't anywhere close in form to the patterns Albus' enchantments had used. She would talk to Avira about it before they past-scryed. She had already got a message from Avira saying that Harry was bringing Isabel up for an initial training session ___and_ that he had eaten what she had told Luna he had needed to. But regardless of the fact that he had done everything she had wanted him to, that wasn't going to stop her teasing him. It was just too much ___fun__._

She had just finished casting the last of the healing spells – which were truly fascinating to her – and had finished them off with a touch of – to her – 'real' Healing to keep her out when Harry walked back through the doors with his entourage. She looked up with a smile. "So I hear things didn't all go all according to plan?" She inquired sweetly, her face the picture of innocence.

"I think that would be one way of putting it Elani, although I still have no idea exactly what I did to her." Harry said, fear colouring his voice clearly.

"Nothing permanently harmful, that much I can tell you for sure. However you did quite a number on her magically ___and_ emotionally." He looked up sharply. "Nothing permanent, I already told you that. But the power-wave you created knocked her magic slightly 'off balance'. That's going to hurt like hell for the next few days and basically prevent her from casting until it subsides. Emotionally however, that's another story. I'm still untangling exactly what your Gift did to her, but whatever it did has been loosely tied to her magic. The connection will eventually fade, but not for at least a month."

"But what did I do to her Elani?" Harry questioned, an edge of desperation bleeding into his tone.

"I...I honestly have no idea. I guess we'll find out when she wakes up." She shook her head as he opened his mouth. "Harry, that's all I can give. And I believe you brought someone with you today who needed my help."  
"'M not a child." Came the slightly mulish reply.

"By the standards of your people, I'm afraid you are Isabella." She shrugged helplessly.

"My people?" Elani nodded.

"Yes, your people. I'm not from around here you see." Elani responded gently. "But I do know how to help you control your Gift. Harry said you can read emotions from the things you touch, is that right?" Isabel nodded uneasily and glanced sidelong at Harry.

"Don't worry, she knows what she's doing and she'd rather die than hurt you." He said encouragingly, stifling a yawn. "Elani, I have to crash. Will you be ok with Isabel tonight?" She nodded quickly.

"If that's ok with her, that's ok with me." Isabel thought for a moment, her forehead crinkling slightly before she nodded.

"That's fine," she said softly. "I trust Harry and if he says you're safe then I trust you."

"Ok then Harry, say good night to Luna and then you can go to sleep." She smirked slightly, leading Isabel off to one side of the infirmary to start walking her through the process of grounding her Gift.

Harry turned to Luna, all of a sudden uneasy.

"Will you be ok tonight?" He asked and she smiled brightly.

"I'll be fine Harry. What about you?"

"That incident with Ginny has me skating on the very edges of my reserves, but I should be good in the morning. If you get the chance, thank Neville for me."

"I will. And good luck tomorrow." Harry cocked his head before smacking his palm to his face, barely missing his glasses. "Yeah, I thought so." She snickered. "Have fun Harry, and try not to cause ___too_ much chaos. At least, not when I'm not there to enjoy it." He sketched a mock bow.

"Of course, my lady." His eyes sparkled with humour.

"Prat."

"Of course."

"Have a good night Harry." She said, her smile softening slightly and sending another wave of strange there-and-not emotion through Harry's Gift.

"And you Luna." She hugged him quickly and vanished back towards her house. He made his way back to his bed and changed quickly. The last thing he heard was an exasperated sigh from Elani.

"Honestly, kids in this world. Completely cl-" Sleep caught him in her gentle talons and swept him away.

* * *

Elani spent another hour tutoring Isabel before walking the girl back to the Gryffindor common room. She had bound the First Year's Gift slightly so that she wouldn't pick up emotions from every single thing she touched. It would make things a lot easier for her until she learnt how to shield properly. She then walked back through the castle to the rooms she shared with Avira. He would probably have everything prepared by the time she got there. He rose as she entered, catching her in a gentle embrace and she melted into it, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. Several long seconds later, they pulled back from each other. His lips traced a small smile as he reached up and caressed her cheek.

"So. As you are not stained with blood, I presume my pupil has survived." She laughed lightly.

"Yes. Although I am not so stupid as to walk through a castle full of children covered in blood if I _had_ perpetrated such an act." She joked and his smile turned into a grin.

"Truly, _kechara_." He pulled her over to where he had filled the stone bowl he always used for scrying with water. "Ready?" He asked, reaching out a Hand to her.

_:Of course I am:_ she Sent, clasping his Hand in hers. Regardless of the fact that Avira could cast this spell easily on his own, working magic together had always been a joy for them. The pattern of Power wove itself into the water before them, reaching back through time to focus on a time earlier that day.

An image started to form in the bowl, wavering slightly as it rippled into being. The spell peaked, Power flowing through them freely as the image became clearer and more defined.

_:Stop:_

Their spell faltered as the mind-voice resonated around them and they snapped instantly into defensive mode, long years of training taking over.

_:Wait! No!:_ The voice cried as their shields snapped into place around them. _:I mean you no harm, worshippers of the Star-eyed.:_

Layers of passive shielding sprang to life around them at the last comment, both Adepts simultaneously activating every defensive measure they had. They moved closer, their shields entwining into a greater whole around them, fed by their combined power. Only then did Avira, very carefully, respond.

_:Who are you?:_

_:I am sorry, I did not mean to alarm you. My name is Cerys.:_

_:And what are you, Cerys?:_ Elani asked.

_:I am the guardian of this school, for all that I have been asleep for most of my life. Your Cataclysm corrupted me and none stirred me from the sleep that my parents sent me into to heal until your arrival here. And I, I was the one to save your pupil.:_ Light flared before the two Tayledras as Cerys continued to speak, her avatar flowing into being before them and her physical voice took over from that of her mind. "I _am_ this school and whilst I thank you for my long overdue awakening, I am curious as to why you have taken such an interest in this world." Her silver eyes, the only concession to her magical nature, stared out of a pale, almost heart-shaped face framed by flowing locks of hair so black as to be almost blue. A radiant aura of Power rippled beneath her 'skin', slipping through her form in places to frame her in a corona of shattering rainbow. For a few seconds, both Adepts could only stare, slack-jawed, at what was undeniably a Guardian Spirit. Elani recovered first.

"You said you were corrupted by 'our Cataclysm'.What do you mean by that?" Cerys shook her head.

"Before I give you your answer, I need mine." She said simply.

"Considering I'm quite sure you're fully capable of ripping that out of our minds, I might as well." Avira replied and cleared his throat. "Neither of us are exactly sure how we discovered this world, one of our scrying spells went awry thirty years ago and led us here. So we decided to see if a Gate could get us to this world and it did. We've spent almost twenty five years flitting between the two worlds, learning and doing no small amount of fighting in the war against Voldemort. That's how we met James and Lily, our pupil's parents. They were one of the few members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix who knew of our existence and the other members who knew about us were killed in the closing stages of the war." He paused, making sure that Cerys was keeping up. "James and Lily left us something before they went into hiding with Harry, something they wanted kept safe from everyone. Their network had uncovered certain evidence that suggested Albus was not the paragon of light that he claimed to be and – however much they hated to even consider it – they could not - and _would_ not – risk the chance that their sources were correct. So they entrusted us with a family locked _Curorreus_ case containing a copy of their will." Cerys gasped, her eyes flying wide and Avira nodded.

"We were two people who they knew Dumbledore could never catch and they trusted us. They were the only ones among our friends here who we ever took to Velgarth and two of the bravest people I have ever met. They knew they might die when they followed Albus' orders to go into hiding. They also knew that the plans they had laid to protect Harry could take several years to kick it. And yet they did everything they could to protect their child, to the exclusion of their own safety. Eventually though, the last person who could have passed on the truth to Harry died and we were all that was left of the legacy James and Lily left for Harry. We had kept an eye on Harry over the years, but both of his parents had made us swear not to intervene unless we were the last living holders of a copy of the will. So we acted at last, pulling him out of this reality into ours and training him in the use of his Gifts – as best we could at in the time we had at least. And the rest, the rest you know." Cerys shook her head for a few seconds, taking it in and then nodded.

"Thank you Avira, Elani, for your honesty." She sighed. "Now I believe I owe you an answer to your question. You asked how your Cataclysm corrupted me. The answer is...complicated. Do you know the origin tale of Hogwarts?" Both Adepts nodded. "Very well, that makes things simpler. I was formed of the souls of the Founders, their child in a far deeper way then a child of simple flesh. I was created as both a guardian for this school and a focus for my parents, someone who would be able to stop their ideals conflicting and tearing the group apart. Unfortunately, your Cataclysm intervened a few decades after my creation. From what little I remember and the knowledge I grasped when I awoke, I think a group of Kaled'a'in mages opened a Gate to escape Urtho's Final Strike. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't counted on Ma'ar going up first. The shockwave threw the Gate off-course, straight into my grounds. I was – and still am – very young and far too curious. I went to investigate the magic that had appeared in my grounds. Twenty Kaled'a'in came through, but at that point the Cataclysm itself was powering the Gate." She smiled sadly as her audience paled.

"I managed to force the Gate to close, but not in time. A tiny, tiny part of your Cataclysm escaped into this world before I could seal it off and I absorbed it, touching off the changes that have turned me into what I am. My parents put me to sleep for those changes, knowing that being awake through them would have driven me insane. Unfortunately none of them could even guess how long it would take for the changes to complete. And even then, they weren't sure if the changes completing would wake me up. Apparently they were right on that score. By my estimate the changes to what I am finished almost four hundred years ago. I could be off, but not by more than a century. Considering the number of latent Gifts within this school, my guess is that the mages I saved integrated as best they could into the magical community of the time and had families, spreading Gifts into the greater magical community. However, without training, these Gifts would become latent, subsumed into the magic of the witch or wizard who wielded them. So true Gift use must have tapered off as those who could train people in their use died off and the Gifts fell into myth. So when I was ready to return, there was no Gift activity to wake me. Not until now." She shook her head.

"And now I find myself waking into a world completely changed from the one I was born into. A world where my Headmaster is corrupt, scores of untrained Gifted walk my halls and my parents are surrounded each by a score of insane stories." Her shoulders drooped and she sighed. "But I will go on and I will right the wrongs that have been inflicted upon the world I now walk." She chuckled and shook herself. "I'm sure that explanation has left you with far more questions than answers. Unfortunately I cannot spare you the time we truly need." Light flared beneath her 'skin' as colour leached out of her avatar. Shining alabaster replaced it, pulsing with a deep inner flame.

_:I will protect any innocents that call for my aid. Remember that always whilst within my walls.:_ Her voice whispered into their minds before the avatar exploded outwards in a wave of sparks.

The spray of magical fireflies swept over the two Adepts, bathing them in light before fading away as they struck the walls of the chamber. Slowly, very slowly, the two Tayledras lowered their shields.

"Well...that was unexpected." Elani's voice was purposefully light.

"I think that's somewhat of an understatement, love." Avira replied, smiling faintly. "I take it none of your record searching ever found someone like who we just met?"

"No. I mean, sure, it's possible to create creatures with magic. Gryphons and _hertasi_ are evidence enough of that. But creating a Guardian Spirit?" She shook her head. "Never. That is the province of the Powers, at least in our world. And yet..." She trailed off.

"What is it, _kechara_?"

"I have never seen a Guardian Spirit of that strength, and I know you haven't either. Some of the colours in her aura...I have no idea what they stand for." She glanced at her lifemate, "Avira, you know I've been to Valdemar, I've seen the Grove-Born Companions. They're the most powerful Spirits I've ever seen and Cerys...she's so far above them that I can't even explain it. It's...it's frightening that something that powerful could have been created by purely mortal hands."

"I know...but I don't think she's been this powerful forever. But the fact that she _survived_ absorbing a part of the Cataclysm itself..." Avira trailed off and then shook himself. "Everything we know of the Cataclysm says that it drained any magic it touched. And yet Cerys is living proof that that just _isn't_ true. It didn't destroy her, it _changed_ her."

"And yet that isn't all Avi'. This school itself is held with reverence by wizards all across the planet. Cerys _is_ this school." Avira paled and she nodded. "Exactly. However consciously, she is worshipped by thousands and you and I both know what that means."

"But..._Goddess_. Do you think she knows?"

"I don't think it matters actually." She laughed slightly at his expression. "What did she herself say she was created to do? She'll never take that final step, regardless of if she could or not."

"And that is what makes her so powerful, isn't it." Avira's expression was awestruck. "She will exist here, on this plane, for as long as this school stands."

"More than that, love. She has made it _her_ task to restore the world she once knew and she will never leave it once she has succeeded. And she _will_ succeed, for there is nothing in this world that could ever stop her." She shook her head at Avira's opening mouth. "No, not even us. It would take a manifestation of the Goddess herself to stop Cerys and we both know that will _never_ happen unless Cerys takes the final step that she would never risk. All I can do is thank the Bright Lady that, regardless of all that she may threaten, she will never forsake her nature."

"You and I both. What a demon could do with her level of power..." he trailed off and they both suppressed shudders. Demons were bad enough with a few hundred worshippers, what one with tens of thousands and a nigh–indestructible temple - which was also its focus - would be able to do did not bear thinking about. "The Founders must have been better people than we had dared hope to create something so enduring and yet so innately good. She has none of the cynicism or anger that most beings in her situation would have. Especially when you consider her actual age."

"But she is a child of a different time kechara, she said that herself. And this world then was much more alike to the one we live in and had just been devastated by magical civil war. She would have had to grow up quickly and if what she said about her creation is correct her 'age' at birth was rather different to what you would expect." Elani finished and Avira nodded in agreement.

"So, our night's work has been done for us." He said after a few minutes, a small smile spreading across his face. "Whatever shall we do." Elani's eyes widened for a second and then flared with passion.

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something, beloved." A gentle wrapping of Power flipped Avira's legs out from under him, sending him tumbling into their bed and she pounced.

**_AN:_** A rather lot of exposition here, although some of it's not yet complete. I hope you're all still with me.

As usual, many thanks go to my ShinjuKoroba for her betaing work. Without her, this wouldn't be anywhere close to as good as it is.

I welcome any and all comments and critique.

Wind to thy wings


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: **Ok, as per normal we have comment response time. Lordamnesia, I'm glad you didn't – no offence. This was something I had planned from the beginning as it's required for a lot of future things. If you remember one thing about this story for the future, remember this guys. It's _important_. Karou, thanks for the continuing support, some other projects got in the way of me finishing this – as did uni exams. Ookami, thanks as usual. And Sossity, I hope you're doing well and thanks for the wonderful review. Some of the answers to your questions will take a while, but they'll all be out there in the end. And in the next chapter – or the one after it – we should be seeing one of Albus's Gifted. I think you're going to like her. And no, she isn't an OC. Cookies will be distributed to all who put in guesses on who it's going to be. Here's a clue, she's not a pupil. And she's also _very_ rarely mentioned. Enjoy.

* * *

Tom Riddle was in an...interesting mood. He'd had an easy summer with few complications, but it had also been boring. He had been forced to recover his strength after the attack on the Ministry, and then consolidate his power for the strike that had freed his followers from their prisons. It had been harder than usual to extract them this time – the Order of the Phoenix had taken an annoyingly surprising turn towards competence whilst he had been preparing. Oh, he hadn't lost anyone, but neither had they_._ And _that_ was the annoying part. He had been forced to spend a great deal of the summer regaining his old strength after his duel with Albus. That duel had taught him many lessons, but the hardest to accept was the fact that, then at least, he had not been a true match for the older wizard. Albus had had another fifteen _years_ to refine and perfect his almost flawless technique whilst he himself had been unable to practice even the simplest of spells. The time in Quirrel's body had helped, yes, but he had not been able to truly practice then either. It had been always far been too dangerous to practice properly – even when he had a body – until now.

But last year he had been forced to make do with facilities that were both poorly designed and shoddily constructed and a great deal of his time and energy had gone into the reclamation of his old sanctuary. It had taken weeks of effort, many of which had been put in over the summer, and a dangerously high toll in both power and lives to fully cement that control, but he had had no choice but to pay that fearful price. Luckily he had an abundance of useless fanatic followers who were willing, nay, eager to sacrifice themselves for the Dark Lord. And even had he not, it still would likely have been worth it. But after that, it had been boring except for a few moments of uncertainty during the final control ritual. His followers had become restless from the months of enforced inaction, but he had made them vent their frustration in practice sessions to get their old edge back. Their skills had, like his, degraded over the last fifteen years and even that wasn't truly their fault – although he would _never_ tell them that. Sure, there was the duelling circuit and private practising. But not even the duelling circuit could maintain the edge his followers – and he himself – now required.

That had been one of the major factors behind his decision to devote nearly all of their resources to retaking his sanctuary. It had a proper practice ground, one where his followers could duel properly and without the need to hold back on their full repertoire – the only banned spell within its confines was Avada Kedavra. Practice grounds were incredibly rare and even more restricted. In all of Britain there were only seven, three of which were completely controlled by the Ministry and used as training grounds for their Aurors. Another lay within Hogwarts – and was probably the reason behind how the Order had kept their battle-edge more intact – and the other three were properties of certain Ancient Houses. Ancient Houses that were, for now, still far too strong for him to truly threaten.

Practice Grounds were ancient inventions and a new one had not been created within Britain – or most of Europe – for centuries. This was not, however, due to lack of knowledge. It was due to a lack of locations. Practice Grounds could only be created on major crossings in the world's latent magical currents as only these crossing could supply the vast amounts of power needed to protect those within from the lethal effects of high level spell fire. With Riddle's Death Eaters, there were very few spells that they used in mainstream combat that _weren't_ lethal and if they wanted to properly train with those spells they had _needed_ his old Grounds. And then there was the undeniable edge in reflexes and thinking speed that duelling without the need to pull punches gave you. A Ground could be keyed to disallow certain spells, making them impossible to cast and the only one Voldemort had locked was his signature, Avada Kedavra. Not even the shields of a Practice Ground could stop that.

But even with Ministry controlling the single largest number, restrictive regulations to "preserve our Aurors" had sharply reduced the range of spells that Aurors were allowed to use the Ministry Grounds to practice with. And the DMLE was still lamed and hampered by the hyper-conservative bureaucracy that was only now being shaken loose from the Ministry by a coalition led by Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour. They held a considerable advantage when you considered their numbers and the edge in reflexes the Grounds gave them, but until they were given the chance to flesh out their repertoire, they would be unable to be more than an annoyance. A skilled annoyance, but still only that.

The Order was another matter however. Regardless of Albus's dislike of killing, the only spells he seemed to restrict were the Unforgivable Curses and spells drawn from the Dark Arts. And Albus didn't skimp on the training of his lackeys. Most of the Order's members were, however much Voldemort hated to admit it, just as good as his best. In fact, before the retrieval of his sanctuary, they had probably been better.

Now though, now he was ready. Or would but for the addition of a new player to the game. Possibly _two_ new players, and that was going to make things...interesting. The first new factor was the wizard who had successfully kidnapped Potter from behind wards that he himself had not been able to break. And then there was the fact that this wizard had blown an entire town apart in the process – _without harming anyone_ – and knocked most of the Order of the Phoenix, including Dumbledore and a significant percentage of the Auror contingent out of commission. Not permanently, but when you added in the fact that he had done this to all them _at once_, that man became a factor that could decide the final outcome of the whole war.

But there was another, far more dangerous possibility. If Potter had been taught even a fraction of what that wizard seemed to know, then his mind might hold the keys to power beyond imagining. The ability to destroy cities single-handedly, to bring the entire Auror force to its knees! With that power he could do so much...

Yet there was still a reason to be cautious. He didn't know what – if anything – Potter had been taught. And for the entire time up to the point where the boy had revealed himself again, the connection between them had been completely unresponsive. No, that was the wrong word. It had simply not ended. He had reached out to find the boy and had met a wall of nothingness. But the connection was back now and he had regained a great deal of his power whilst Harry had been away. And he had not spent the weeks waiting idly.

Servants swarmed around the room, all very deliberately leaving a circle of several foot between themselves and his chair as they prepared the room for the connection ritual. But once again, here in his sanctuary such things were so much easier. The place had been built on a nexus of magical energy, but it had also been built as a _focus_ for that energy and more could be added to it by willing wizards. And Voldemort, as the true master of the place was capable of tapping a small portion of that massive reservoir to supply the energy required for rituals like this. And when he cast his mind forth to find the answers he sought, he would have that power behind his probe. All that remained were the final preparations.

He cleared his throat from the well padded chair at the centre of the opulent room and all movement ceased at the sudden sound. He allowed himself a slight smirk at his servant's reactions and then spoke.

"Are we ready?" He asked softly, his voice calmly measured regardless of his wish for speed and the door to the room slid open to reveal a cloaked figure.

"We are, My Lord." A distinctly masculine voice purred from the shadow of the cloak's hood. "I completed the final preparations myself." The figure shrugged the cloak off, revealing a mask of shining obsidian. The soft, rippling light from the room's candles and fireplace refracted off the mask's exquisitely crafted motif of swirling flame.

"Excellent." Eyes of rich carmine sparkled with sadistic glee and he beckoned. The flame masked figure stepped forward as the servants scattered toward the exits. Their jobs were done, better to leave without permission than stay and draw the attention of their Lord. The figure slid effortlessly into the room's other chair and Voldemort's face twisted in a dark smile as he caught one of the last

servants with a spell and hauled the struggling figure back, spinning him round to face him. "Farel."

"Ye..yes Lord?" The servant replied, his voice warped by a rich cocktail of terror into less than a whisper.

"Tell the Circle to start their ritual." He flicked his wand in a throwing motion and Farel was sent flying back to the door where he frantically recovered and bowed deeply.

"Yes My Lord, thank you My Lord." And he vanished into the blackness of the corridor behind him.

"You're learning quickly." The other seated figure remarked, an edge of dark pride in his voice and Riddle smirked at him.

"Not for nothing am I remembered as one of the most gifted pupils in the history of Hogwarts." The mask inclined slightly in an acknowledging nod.

"True." The air around them rippled suddenly and the two gasped. The purring voice turned inquiring. "Shall we, My Lord?"

"Yes." Tom's smirk turned as power flooded up into the chamber. "Yes, I believe we shall." He raised his wand. Deep sapphire flame, outlined with black and gold, sprang into being at its tip and his hand moved slowly and deliberately, creating a ring of strange fire above himself and his companion as strange words poured from his lips. The fire spread out above them, reaching down and out across the room, focusing the power within towards the two wizards sitting within. And then, so suddenly an observer would think they were linked, the two slumped in their chairs. And the fire reached upwards, fluxing slightly as two minds flashed out of the sanctuary, borne on wings of tricolour flame.

* * *

Surprise. That was the most powerful feeling in Cerys's mind as she stood within herself and pondered what the two Kaled'a'in had said, both _to_ her and after she left. Surprise at how much they seemed to know of ancient magical history, surprise at how effortlessly they had blended into the society of this world – even with the practice they had had. And most of all, surprise at what they had said about _her_. And yet as they had spoken she had realised that they were right. And that, that had not been surprising; it had been terrifying. As they spoke of things and concepts she thought she knew nothing of, concepts that – she had thought – were purely the province of those of Velgarth, she had _understood_ them. She had felt and understood the shock, fear and awe of the two Adepts as they talked of her, finally – and inadvertently – explaining to her what she was. A...Guardian Spirit. It felt right. After all, that _had_ been the original reason for her creation; to ensure the safety of the school and its pupils. Well, and to keep the Founders from tearing themselves apart, to _guard_ the connections between them with love. But she was more than that too they had said and as they had talked of demons and the power of worship she had realised that, once again, they were right. And that had moved the need to talk to the people who had come from the Department of Magical Surveillance up quite a bit. But they were sleeping right now and they needed that rest. She could wait.

So she would have to answer her questions as best she could by herself for now. First was the fact that her – literally – otherworldly visitors had more knowledge of ancient magical history than that of all of the other teachers combined, _including_ Dumbledore. That had been the greatest surprise – at least until they had started talking about Guardian Spirits... - but that wasn't what she was focusing on right now. They had known about the Reformation. And not the lies that most history books told you. They knew the _truth_. She had expected them to know enough about the culture to blend in, but knowing the truth of the Reformation was knowledge that – according to the elementals she had been able to talk to since awakening – was very rare outside of barely a score of Ancient Houses.

And yet when she truly thought about it was arguable that them _not_ knowing everything they could of wizarding history was rather silly. And when you factored in the two's rather unique talent set, well. Finding written records of what had truly happened would be almost impossible for any wizard. Most of those were destroyed shortly after its ending, mainly out of shame. But for Adepts, Adepts _obviously_ well versed in the intricacies of scrying, it would be little more than energy intensive child's play. But even then, the protections on where they were kept would be – wait. Adepts. Right. She made a mental note to ask about it. If they had any of the remaining written record of the horrors the Reformation had inflicted on the world she would want them. Oh, the Foundation had to have full histories, but she wasn't really willing to reveal herself to them. Not yet. But she also wanted that history added to the curriculum if she had anything to say about it. These children – and probably most of the ones teaching them – needed to know what their world was capable of. And they _would_ know. The awakening might not be gentle, but it would _happen_!

She shook herself slightly at that thought. Regardless of her vow to set the world aright, it _couldn't_ be as simple as she had stated it. Reshaping an entire civilisation never was. But it was all a moot point for now. Until she was free of that binding there really was precisely _nothing_ she could do to directly affect the world outside of her walls. However...within her walls was a very different story. And her school needed a rest after all that happened today and over the past summer. Her fingers traced the emotions and thoughts of her inhabitants and she opened herself to those feelings. Her presence streamed out along the web, gentle calm wiping away all traces of sadness, tension and fear.

The few teachers still awake, most trying to catch up on their never-ended flows of paperwork, sighed and set their work aside. Tension and stress vanished along with apprehension and loss, the fear of hundreds fading into insignificance at the soothing touch of something inescapably beyond them. Power surged through the intangible connections within the school, carrying away emotion for tonight. It was an old technique, far older than Cerys, but she knew how to do it and her power was beyond that of any wizard. She took the emotion and held it for those she was sworn to protect. A true Guardian could do nothing less.

The few pupils still awake, many torn by almost hysterical fear for their families, blinked as the fear vanished. Warmth flooded through them for a moment, tears of joy shimmering on their eyes as they let go – if only for a time – and fell deeply into sleep's healing embrace. The others, those who were homesick or nervous experienced a similar sensation, although its intensity was lessened –to them however the effects were just as profound. It was simply that letting go of familial fear was much harder than doing the same to apprehension or loneliness. But it happened, for it to do anything else would be all but impossible. Cerys smiled outwards from her heart as they all passed the pain onto her for now, it was nothing she could not handle. And then her smile vanished as a lance of gold and obsidian edged sapphire stabbed through her shields into the Hospital wing. And once again, her unconscious self reacted first. But this time it was drawing on her fully awakened and conscious power. And that was far more than it had access to before.

Invisible flame lashed out at the spear of consciousness driven through her shields, power exploding into being around it as her mind reacted. And then she reached out a hand and pulled, ripping the smooth shard of flame away from its target as a web of emerald light clamped down upon the minds within. Shrouding her appearance with a thought, she pulled the two presences out of the magical lance 'below' her and into her presence. The first presence was unrecognisable, nothing that she had ever seen before. But the second was one that she remembered from the unconscious records she had kept throughout the centuries of her sleep.

_Hello Tom._ She said icily. _Just _what_ do you think you're doing?_ There was a pause and then she felt the 'Dark Lord' try to contact the other presence. _I don't think so Tom. You're not getting any help from your followers here. _Her 'voice' sharpened, forming into a needle of power that slammed into the other presence's shields as he tried to push through the barrier she had erected between the two intruders. It didn't penetrate, which was expected. But it also did much less damage then a bolt of that power should have, as if part of it had been deflected. She filed that observation away for further consideration and then refocused her concentration on Riddle. _Answer me._ She snapped, slamming a similar bolt into Tom's shields and watching as they buckled. _Answer me n-_ She was cut off by a wave of power slamming into the barrier between the two, originating from the unknown.

She blinked, shocked for a second, and then her visible form exploded with blue and silver flame, building up around her in a corona of explosive fire. _You are not welcome here, mind thieves._ The fire all around her rose into a massive wall above the two intruders, cobalt and silver flames shot through with crimson towering above them. They had a split second, one than neither managed to use, to prepare and then the wave of magical energy crashed down on top of them. There was a sudden scream of rage as the wall slammed down, bolts of Power lancing into it from both presences as they tried to match Cerys strength for strength. They failed.

The shields around the school rippled, flickering in a mix of blue and gold, silver and red as the lance of thought stretched and snapped back like a rubber band. For a moment, the castle's shields shifted to hold the lance and Cerys appeared at the edge of her grounds, cloaked in a veil of brilliant argent fire. _That was your one and _only_ chance. If you try to threaten those under my protection again, I will destroy you._ Her voice turned soft and lethal._ Leave._ The silver veil concentrated around her face. _NOW!_ A shockwave of argent light exploded out from her words, sending the minds of Voldemort and his single companion spiralling back into their bodies as Cerys spun on the spot and vanished.

Voldemort lurched up in his chair as his mind and spirit slammed back into his physical form. Across from him, his compatriot was in a similar state, gasping for breath as his body came back online without any form of preparation. He jumped and jerked, muscles spasms shooting through him as if he was under the Cruciatus. Voldemort recovered first, bypassing most of the spasms due to the level of control he had over his construct-body and quickly waved his wand at his black masked ally.

"_Alcedonia._" He said firmly, and a wave of aquamarine light swept across the man before him, stilling the spasms. He took a few breaths and then spoke.

"You have my thanks." He said softly. "Do you have any idea who that was?"

"None. And you?"

"Likewise. But I know Power when I see it." The voice settled into its usual purr. "I will have to retrieve my servant, if someone that powerful has taken Hogwarts has her abode, it has become too dangerous for my pet to stay there."

"I understand." Riddle replied. "Go." The black masked figure nodded and stood. But before he could move towards the door, Voldemort spoke again. "You have aided me greatly once again." He pulled a small key from a pouch at his belt. "I think you've earned some fun." He said with a smirk, tossing the key across to the masked figure.

"Just the one, I take it?" The figure asked, a slight edge to his voice,

"Yes, I think so. But one from my private collection." Riddle replied, his voice low and full of dark pleasure. The man's eyes sparkled with evil fire and he bowed deeply.

"Thank you, My Lord." He said formally, before sweeping out of the room into the darkness of the Dark Lord's stronghold. Voldemort steepled his fingers in front of him and smiled contemplatively.

"Now..." he mused. "What should I do today." His smile stretched out into a sick smile and his pale hand reached for a small bell on the table beside him. He raised the tiny piece of cast silver to before his eyes and rang twice. There was much to do.

* * *

It came so carefully, so _gently_, that it was all but invisible, dancing across the night in a cloak of bejewelled velvet. It was a carefully constructed web of magic, breathtaking in its dark simplicity and at first touch not even _Cerys_ felt it. But as the intricate pattern of non-existent light spread across the wards that encircled Hogwarts, it_ had_ to become noticeable. Power sparked at the edge of those wards as the pattern slid a part of itself through them and Cerys, already on edge after the earlier attack, reacted within instants. But the maker of the pattern had expected that and crafted his pattern accordingly. In the moment before its destruction, a Call radiated out from the section of the pattern slid painstakingly through the wards. It rippled outwards, across senses that none had been trained to follow for centuries and a pair of luminous golden eyes lifted in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. Cerys's gaze snapped round as she tracked those eyes, another part of her watching as the black web outside of her shields shredded itself. Then the form behind those eyes curled out of its hiding place and started to move, away through the dark towards the edge of the her shields. Her Master was not going to be pleased with what it had to report, but the punishment for fighting a Call would be far worse. She knew that well and moved with a haste in keeping to the strength of her Master's Call. It took her but a few minutes to reach the edge of the castle's wards and Cerys watched with a mix of fascination and apprehension as the figure stopped. Slender hands rose, moving in the strange, twisting gestures of opening and unmaking and shock shattered Cerys's calm observation. There was a gateway opening through her shields! Except...wait. No. It wasn't going _through_ her shields. It was _using_ their power to...NO! Her mind screamed in shocked denial as a circle of light spun into being. Her own power forced open a Gate, a Gate to a place outside of herself that she could neither find nor trace. The figure looked round, as if she could _see_ her watching and a smirk slipped across her strange face.

_Oh no you don't!_

A twisting web of yellow and green exploded out of the ground around the creature as she stepped forward, reaching up to restrain. The figure only smiled, her eyes glittering in the dark, and leapt backwards towards the Gate as the bindings rose. She twisted over the lattice of Power and curled into a ball. The lattice followed her, tendrils of light spinning after her and falling just short. She tumbled through the Gate and it snapped shut, the shields rippling slightly as Cerys's fireball slammed into them. She was gone.

* * *

**AN: **And there we have it people. Chapter 15 done and dusted and a whole load of clues dropped at once. You people who know Velgarth, you should be able to guess at what I angling for here. But just _try_ to guess the reasons behind it :p Chapter 16 is probably going to be a while in coming – hopefully not as long as this one, I'll do my best guys – as I have some original work that needs finishing. But I've still got the muses for this hanging around with me, so next chapter may be out this month. Hopefully I can do that for you. Thanks for sticking with me here people.

Many thanks again go to ShinjuKuroba for her both in betaing this and pointing me in the direction of a video that led to me finishing this chapter. You're the best.

All comments and critiques are most welcomed.

Wind to thy wings


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: **Gina, thank you. I hope you like this one too. Daenin, yep. That's a big part of the entire premise of this fic. I wanted high level magic, but I also didn't want to make it silly or one-sided. And I think the result has been going pretty well (if not, please tell me). And thank you, _thank you_ for the compliment on my characters. I put a great deal of work into them. Sossity, oh just you wait. Buckle up people. This is about to get real interesting.

* * *

The smooth waters of the Black Lake sprang into sparkling reflections, light scattering off the shimmering surface and refracting into incandescent rainbows as sun stretched its radiant arms out over the eastern horizon. Colour filled the sky as it awoke from the sparkling blackness of night, the outer edges of the spectrum sweeping in a swirling mix as sunbeams sank into the scattered clouds, high above Hogwarts. Yellow and orange sunlight spread out across the valley, breathing life back into the slumbering grounds. Branches swayed in the warm westerly breeze, sending clean fragrance down into the school itself, through the doors that Cerys had flung wide open, allowing the air in to cleanse and refresh. It was a surprise to all as they entered the Entrance Hall, seeing the great doors of Hogwarts wide open, strands of sunlight shooting across the doorway from the east and feeling the warm breeze sweeping in, carrying the scent of pine and fresh water.

Alexander stood at a high window, looking out through an illusion of solid stone over the grounds of the ancient school as the light spread out from the east, sighing gently as the light breeze Cerys had induced flowed through the open window.

"It's beautiful Annie." He said wistfully, turning his head to look at his boss. "_So_ beautiful."

"I know Alex." She replied. "But it's also a bubble, removed from the rest of the world by those walls." She gestured at the low walls around the school, spreading out into the Forbidden Forest. They stopped somewhere in there, leaving a small section guarded only by non-visible wards, but that was a weakness both easily remedied and known to almost none. "And considering what we know now...does it really give our youth what they need?"

_No. No it doesn't._ Cerys's voice slipped lightly through their minds. _But I can fix that._ Light flared behind the two DMS employees as the spirit flowed into existence, the shimmer they had seen before now totally dampened. "Hello Anne, Alexander." She said softly. "Did you rest well?" The archaic phrase dropped easily from her lips and Alex's mouth twitched in a tiny smile.

"I don't think I've slept better in a long time, if truth be told." He replied. "And I think I speak for us both there." Anne nodded in agreement and smiled properly.

"I believe there was at least a little magic to that though, wasn't there?" She asked calmly and Cerys dipped her head in affirmative. "Thank you."

"It wasn't much." Cerys replied demurely. "Only a simple Clearing."

"And yet it's something that, whilst relatively widely known, is rarely shared. And never on the level that you did it last night, if I guess correctly."

"I..." Cerys's cheeks reddened in a deep blush and Anne brushed one of them gently with two fingers, marvelling at the feel of flesh in what her brain knew was a magical construct.

"Don't hide behind modesty, sweetling. Sure, it wasn't flashy. But a lot of the time people need that which is invisible. You gave almost two thousand people, most of them teenagers with parents at home, something that they desperately needed. You gave them a night of peace; free of stress, worry and nightmare. Free even of the dreams that could turn such. And now you're cementing what that night gave them with the most powerful of reagents. Nature." She smiled again at Alex's startled look.

"How do you know that?" He asked breathlessly.

"I'm what most Muggles would call a spiritualist Alex. I know what Cerys did because I've done it myself, albeit on a far smaller scale." Anne replied with a gentle shrug and Cerys burst out laughing. "What?"

"And..."Cerys gasped, forcing back another laugh as she straightened. "And you say there's no one capable of tapping ley lines alive?" She shook her head, giggling replacing her laughter. "Annie, if you know how to do what I did last night, then you _yourself_ have been manipulating the magical currents of the country since you started doing it." She snickered again at the 'older' woman's dumbfounded look. "No wizard, however powerful, has the capability to influence others on that level. Oh, there's the Imperius Curse, yes. But that only gives you conscious control, extremely _tenuous_ conscious control. You want to clear someone on the level you're talking about, you need to be able to fully manipulate their _unconscious_ mind. And the only way to do that properly is to use the ley lines to amplify your spell. Oh, and generally have their permission to cast the spell." She smiled impishly, "Being what I am gives me a pronounced advantage in bypassing that little restriction. Well, that and the fact that my students trust their school."

Anne blinked at her for a few seconds, then her eyes widened. "I am very, _very_ glad that I know enough about you to know that you'll never misuse that ability." She said fervently. Cerys smiled slightly.

"Thank you Anne." She responded, before sobering and gesturing the two DMS employees back from the window.

"Please, sit." She said, gesturing at the table and chairs around it that had _not_ been there a few minutes before. "I think we have a great deal to talk about this morning." She snapped her fingers, summoning a well laden breakfast tray onto the table as her two companions sat. "And if I'm not mistaken we're going to need quite a while to get it all sorted." She sighed. "I just hope we have long enough before the Ministry moves on what your colleagues will have had to tell them." Alex and Anne both nodded heavily. "From what I saw in your mind, Anne, I think we'll have the Minister himself here by noon. And whilst a part of me would prefer to avoid the inevitable confrontation for now, the rest knows that it is inevitable." She plucked a warm scone from the tray and placed it on the plate in front of her. "Help yourself, please. You need a good meal." She stopped for a few minutes as the two filled their own plates off of the tray in front of them, before nodding.

"There we go." A thin seam simply appeared in her scone as she laid her hands back on the table, drawing the attention of the two humans sitting with her. She looked up as the two halves of the scone separated and buttered themselves. "What?" She asked innocently. She shifted her gaze down and then looked up again and blinked. "No, honestly. What?"

"I...err..I..." Alex stammered. "Did that scone just butter _itself_?" He blurted and Cerys cocked her head with a confused expression before blinking a few times.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" She asked, considerably confusion in her tone. "Didn't yours?" Alex's eyes bulged slightly.

"I..." He paused, taking a breath before looking down and seeing his scone on the plate, cut and buttered. He shook his head resignedly and twitched an eyebrow at Anne.

"You do realise that's not exactly...normal right now Cerys?" The spirit blinked at her, her face a study of puzzlement.

"What do you mean?"

"Err...well." Anne took a breath. "Most people see wandless magic as impossible."

"Really?" Cerys asked, her tone more intrigued than confused. "Why ever would you think that?" It was Anne and Alex's turn to blink.

"Err... No reason." Anne said quickly. They were going to have to talk about that later, hopefully before the Ministry got here. The three chewed in silence for several minutes more, drinking in the changing scenery before them as the sun rose through the clouds into the lightening sky before Cerys spoke again.

"So. Are you ready to tell me what you were sent here to tell me?" Anne nodded, finished chewing a mouthful of scone, swallowed and then cleared her throat.

"Yes, I think so." She carefully drew her wand. "Alex." He slid his own wand out from his sleeve. The room cooled suddenly as Cerys looked at them, suspicion suddenly in her eyes and Anne held up her other hand quickly. "Cerys, no. I swear to you, that's not why we need these. We just need them to release the message the Room in the Ministry put inside of us when we told it you had woken up." Warmth returned to the room again – albeit slowly – as the two DMS members raised their wands and clashed them together.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a few, tiny sparks of magic slipped out of the two wands. These few became more. Then more. The two wands pulled themselves from the hands of their wielders, spinning up in a shimmer of gold and silver sparks that spread out around them into a humanoid form with the two shining wandpoints as eyes. The gold-and-silver figure shimmered slightly and then solidified. Cerys gasped.

"Hello, my Daughter." The figure shimmered again, new colours bleeding through the silver and gold until the slender physique of Rowena Ravenclaw stood across the table from Cerys. "I've left this message as both a farewell and journal. Hopefully it will allow you to correct the stories that will come to surround us in the centuries to come."

"I...I...Mother!" Cerys surged to her feet at that pause, stepping _through_ the table in a shimmer a light only for Rowena to raise a hand in front of her.

"Stop, daughter. I know what you're feeling, but I'm only a projection. An advanced one, yes, but still only that." She glanced at something outside of the projection's field of view. "And I need to be quick." She sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you more in words here, but there are problems afoot in our world now, problems that have ripped the four of us apart." Cerys blinked in shock. "I know, I know, it doesn't seem possible. But it's happened and there's not much I can do about it anymore. All I can do is leave you this." She gestured and another figure shimmered into being as it crossed the projection threshold.

"Father!" Cerys gasped.

"Hello, little one." Salazar Slytherin said smoothly. "I'm afraid I have even less time than Rowena to leave an actual spoken message. But the true history has been left for you, a total copy in the usual place." Cerys's eyes widened and she nodded suddenly as Salazar sighed. "I wish I could give you more time, love, I really do. But -" he cut off as the sound of someone hammering against a door cut in from one side of the projection. "Never mind." He said sadly, a bittersweet smile on his lips. "At least I get to say goodbye to _you_, my daughter." He reached out in a wordless gesture of sorrow and farewell before turning to Rowena. "I have to go, this has to end. Now, today. Before another Reformation happens." She nodded jerkily, eyes sparkling.

"I know, Sal. I know." She opened her arms and drew him into a tight embrace before releasing him and smiling slightly. "Fly swiftly and never look back, friend."

"And to you, love." He replied, before he vanished out of the view, moving away from the sound of the hammering. Rowena smiled tearfully.

"Sal has to go stop this before it starts – don't worry, you'll find a full explanation in the copy we left for you. Just -" her voice caught, "just don't think too badly of us when you see it. We always loved you, Cerys. That was the one thing that they found hardest to break, and even then I don't think they truly managed it." She raised her hand again. "I know, I know, you don't know what I'm talking about. But you will. Look where we kept things when you were young and use the words that the four of us last spoke to you. The truth will point to itself." There was a flash of light and the image flickered.

"_Mother_!" Cerys cried, as Rowena staggered slightly before straightening.

"I have to go now, beloved. Sorry. I wish I could have made this longer." Her wand flashed in her hand and the image shattered into nothingness, the two wands dropping to the floor with an echoing clatter. And Cerys dropped with them. She sank down to her knees in rustle of cloth, tears sparkling on her cheeks and Anne moved with her.

"Shhh." She murmured gently, pulling the young spirit into her arms. "Shhh." One hand glided over the avatar's hair, smoothing it as convulsive sobs rippled through her whilst the other held Cerys close, giving her a much needed shoulder to cry on. "They never forgot you. They never _could_." She whispered to the distraught guardian. "You were their soul and their heartbeat. Almost _literally_." Cerys shook her head and Anne pulled back slightly, using one hand to straighten the spirit's head so that their eyes met. "Don't deny yourself that, Cerys. You were all that and far more."

"Then why wasn't I there for them when they needed me!" She whispered brokenly in response and Anne sighed.

"You _know_ why. Because you needed to save people." Anne replied. "It's part of your _nature_ to do that. You could no more stop yourself from doing that then you could stop people _needing_ to be helped. You gave your parents decades of peaceful connection, holding them together. But they knew what your basic nature was Cerys. They _had_ to. And they knew that in a choice between them and saving lives, you wouldn't choose them. And you know that most of them would choose the same."

Cerys shook her head shakily, and then slumped onto Anne's shoulder again, her outflow of tears slowing. Anne simply held her until they stopped, before helping her up and hugging her again. "Better?" She asked.

"A little." Cerys's eyes cleared, the redness vanishing from her eyes. "Thank you."

"This is one of our duties Cerys, to ensure that your transition back into this world is supported." Alex replied, startling the two ladies. They looked up to see him still sitting, with a hard look on his face. "But we need you Cerys, because you're probably the only being capable of fixing the mess that this world has become." He shook his head. "It shouldn't fall to you, in all honesty I'm unsure if humanity even _deserves_ this second chance. But you're here, you're what you are and the words have been spoken." His eyes glinted in the light as he looked out the window. "You have maybe two hours before the Ministry moves. I would advise you find what your parents left you before then. You're going to need it." Cerys nodded briefly and stepped away from the two. "Call us when you need us."

"I will." Cerys's form flickered, scattering rainbow shadows across the room as her physical 'body' seemed to explode slightly, shattering into individual motes of light before going out. There was a slight 'whuf' of air replacing the now empty space and then silence. Anne and Alex looked at each other, then Anne pulled herself back onto her seat and the two looked out over the school as its populace started to awaken.

* * *

Motes of sparkling light drifted down through the dusty room's ceiling, spinning towards the floor as more and more motes flooded down through the solid stone ceiling. The spin increased, whipping the dust in the room up into a miniature whirlwind, the light turning the grey into shining silver. The whirlwind folded in on itself, turning into a globe of smooth silver light before vanishing out of existence as Cerys snapped into being where it had been before. The candles in the room lit at her gaze as it swept the room. Her eyes traced the intricate murals of the room that her whirlwind had swept clean of dust, murals that she had helped create almost a thousand years ago. Her shoulders slumped slightly and then she swept her hands up and around, sending a wave of golden stardust rippling out across the murals, its touch reawakening the slumbering magic within them. The pictures came alive, linking together in an immersive depiction of what a summer day had been a thousand years ago. It had taken her almost a year of work over five summers to finally complete this and set the enchantments properly. But this time, she wasn't here to relax. She stepped forward, into the very centre of the room and her voice was rife with emotion.

"You said 'Child of our dreams, our love for you will never fade'" Her voice caught and she took another deep breath, stabilising her tone before continuing. "'So we all swear. Nostrum amor ero a contego pro totus infinitio . Sleep safe and heal.'" Her eyes were shining again, shining with unshed tears of loss and the pain of not knowing. "Mother, Father, I remember." She whispered. "How could I _forget_." The murals shifted, overlapping in on themselves away from one side of the room as the stone walls slid back with the whispering scrape of stone on stone. Dust vanished from the newly revealed alcove as Cerys moved into it, as if fleeing from the spirit's slipper-clad feet. The alcove was small, with a simple granite pedestal at its centre and it was there that Cerys stopped. An orb of smooth blackness hung above that pedestal, shot through with currents of swirling silver alike to that of memories in a pensive. Cerys looked at it for a second, cocking her head slightly and then shook it. _You always were a genius Mother._ She thought sadly. _It looks like you surpassed yourself in this one._ She reached up and touched the orb with her index finger. And everything changed.

Images shot through her, memories and feelings and blissful, incredible knowledge.

_We stayed together for longer than anyone ever expected._ The soft gentleness of her mother's voice spoke into her mind. _And even then, we could have survived longer. But something, or someone got to your Uncle a few years after you were separated from us. It took a long time, but slowly that someone – we still don't know exactly who – pulled him away from us. We hated to see it happen, we tried to stop it too and for a long time you held him here. But eventually whatever force that had found a hold in him broke even that enough to take him away from us. And none of us could have predicted what came next._

_Godric started to work against us, discrediting Salazar without mercy as a hater of muggleborn and slowly turning a considerable section of the common people against us. And fighting the hate of a loved one has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. But we tried, even then, to talk to him. Helga tried to talk to him through Eleanor, then in person but something had wormed its way into your Uncle's mind and wouldn't let him go. And when his followers started to attack the school and its pupils, we no longer had a choice._

_Your Father refused to let anyone else go with him to face Godric. And he was clever enough to stop anyone else too. But whatever the thing was that corrupted your Uncle's mind, it couldn't destroy his sense of honour. Salazar met him on the field of battle, but not in pitched battle against the Cult of Gryffindor. He met him in a duel instead. We begged them not to do it, Eleanor as Godric's wife and myself as the closest thing to true family your Father had ever had other than you._

_And so they met on that cold April morning, to finish what the thing inside Godric had started. You know your Father and Uncle. You know how powerful they both were. And Sal refused to duel to kill, regardless of it being a duel to the death. But, somehow he managed to disable Godric, bringing him down and forcing a Battle of Minds. A Battle of Minds that he barely won. But it was enough. Your Uncle's mind was freed, albeit temporarily. He knew he didn't have much time and made your Father swear to kill him after he told him everything he could._ Cerys could feel the broken heartache buried within the next words. _Sal agreed._

_Godric told of a man with a face of black flame, an evil that would make all the acts of the Reformation look like nothing. We don't know where he came from, neither did Godric or anyone else we managed to ask about it. But the man had changed your Uncle, slowly warping his mind and breaking his connections to almost everything he held dear. There's a little more in the memory-globe, love, but that's most of it. And so your Father followed through on his oath and was forced to kill someone so close to him as to have been effectively his brother._

_The 'Cult of Gryffindor' tore itself apart after that, its entire basis revealed as trickery and lies by the very man who had created it. But it didn't die quickly, or easily. And we lost your Father to that death, much in the same way we lost you. He was saving people._

_But a few of the higher-ranking members of the Cult survived. And they turned their hand to making the history books tell the story that they believed to be the case. Your father became the villain of the tale, and your Uncle the one to strike him down after he refused a chance at redemption. And by that point, everyone who had actually known Godric – except me – was dead. And I couldn't stop the books changing. I kept some originals safe, locked in the chest behind you, but that was all I could do._

_I'm sorry love. Truly sorry for our lives to have ended this way. But we succeeded in what we set out to do, unlike so many others. And remember that you were, are, and always shall remain our greatest creation and treasure._

Cerys almost collapsed again as the memories behind that message rippled through her, stabbing pain through her already bleeding heart. The only reason she didn't was because the feelings were moving too fast to truly register. She already knew that there were days – if not weeks of heartbreak in those memories that she would have to eventually face. But right now, all she had to do was let them flow through her. And for a time she became simply a conduit for those agonising memories.

Her next conscious thought was prompted by her perimeter alarms as a large group of Ministry Aurors passed through her gates, heading up towards the school itself. Breakfast was in full swing now. She blinked a few times, shook her head and then centred herself in preparation for what was about to happen. All she could do was hope that the current Minister wasn't a total idiot. Otherwise this was about to get decidedly interesting. And probably somewhat painful for the Minister.

**AN: **And there we go, Chapter 16 done and dusted. And in a surprising twist, I actually have Chapter 17 all ready to go. Unfortunately, due to university exams beginning to encroach on my free time, I'm going to hold off a bit on posting it. I have the start of 18 down and I'd really like to get it done before putting up 17 (I know, the possibility of regular updates is as shocking to me as it probably is to you :p). So just to add to that, Chapter 17 will be up on the 22nd. If I have 18 done by then, I'll give you a date for it's posting at the time.

Many, _many_ thanks to ShinjuKuroba for continuing to beta this for me. And thank you to all of you reading this. All comments and critiques are welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Wind to thy wings.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: **Sossity, thank you very much. In response to your questions, oh, you'll see. Oh, and in regards to the wand issue, remember what Cerys is. She's never needed a wand. Ever. Rebekahalana, thank you so much for your comments. They really help me keep writing. Gina, thanks. Here's your more. Ghille Dhu, I hope you didn't choke too badly, wouldn't want to kill you. Hope you enjoyed reading. Now...have fun reading.

* * *

The world swam back into view, blurry at first and then clearing as eyelids cleared sleepsand from eyes. The bed creaked slightly as the body in it turned slightly, sighing in veiled disgust with the current time. Eyes drooped again, sleep calling like a siren before being interrupted.

"Harry, if you let yourself fall asleep I'm going to go get a bucket and fill it with something cold." Elani teased calmly from the foot of the hospital wing bed and Harry jerked up suddenly, feet jumping upwards as he straightened quickly. One hand scrubbed the remnants of the sleepsand his eyelids had missed from his eyes whilst the other reached out and found his glasses on the bedside table. Slipping them on, he glared at the impossibly young looking woman before him.

"What time is it?" He asked – half mumbling.

"About half eight." She smirked at him as he gave a muffled groan. "Hey, I'm not the one at fault here." Her smirk widened as he gave her an appraising 'sure you aren't' look. "Hermione, he's awake." She called and Harry's eyes widened suddenly.

"Oh you-"

"Harry!" Hermione's cry cut him off as she barrelled through the curtains around his bed and flung herself into a hug. He blinked as she hit him and then hugged back – gently mind.

"Hey." He said gently, getting her to look at him. "I'm fine. I even went to dinner last night. I was more worried about you and Miss Tedesca over there." He said, gesturing at the Slytherin's bed and then looking up out of the hug and catching Elani's eyes. "How is she though?" Elani smiled slightly.

"Better. Her head hurts like hell, but she's alive. She also wanted to see you." Harry blinked, freezing for a second, and then nodding slowly.

"I can understand that, I guess." He said softly. "And I – no, _we_," he corrected himself, looking down at Hermione, "need to thank her for saving our lives." Hermione looked at him for a second, confused. "She stepped out in front of us and stopped that curse from hitting me. I don't know why, but-"

"Because that curse was meant for me, Harry." Maricella stated as she stepped through the curtains around his bed. "You stepped out in front of _me_ first. You might not have known at the time, but I doubt it would have mattered. And whilst you've seen precious little of it, even pure-bloods understand honour. You put yourself between me and death, completely unsure of if you could survive it." She sighed. "And when you fell, I couldn't _not_ try to save you." She blushed slightly and shook her head. "Sorry, where are my manners." She held out her hand. "My name is Maricella Tedesca, it's a pleasure to meet you at last, although I could wish the circumstances were a little different." Harry nodded, pulling himself out of Hermione's hug and clasping Maricella's hand in his.

"Harry." He said simply. "And the pleasure is mine." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Elani said that you had a rather horrendous headache."

"Horrendous feels like an understatement." She muttered darkly. "It feels like I ran into a house." She looked up at Elani, an almost pleading look hiding in her eyes. "Are you _sure_ you can't do anything about it?" Elani shook her head.

"Sorry, no. You almost overloaded yourself doing what you did yesterday. I've fixed the major damage, but rushing the rest of it could do a lot more harm than good." The silver haired healer sighed. "I can give you a potion for the pain, but I'm not sure how effective it'll be."

"If it does _anything_ for this pain, then that'll be more than enough." Maricella grimaced and Elani nodded.

"I'll be right back then." She said, and vanished back through the curtains towards the nurse's office.

"So." Maricella asked coolly. "_That_ was one of your teachers Harry?" Harry blinked and the redhead shook her head with a smile. "Harry, one of the only reasons I've survived to this age is because I learnt very young how to read body language. And the way you act around each other makes it look like you've been friends for a few months, _close_ friends. You also actually defer to her, which you don't when presented by most other teachers." Harry shook his head, his face a picture of shock.

"I...you can get all that from body language?" He finally asked.

"Yes. But I've been forced to become _very_ good at reading it. Most can't see the nuances I can." She said calmly. "So don't worry about others noticing. And remember, the only reason I did was because I got to see the two of you interacting away from the public eye. And from the _way_ you were acting, you were going to tell me anyway."

"Maricella, I _really_ hope we don't run into another one of you any time soon. That's just downright _scary_." Harry replied, before continuing. "Yes, you're right. She is one of my teachers. And the reason we were going to tell you is because you have a Gift beyond a normal wizard or witches's magic." He sighed. "Elani comes from a world beyond ours, a world where magic works quite differently to here. And due to circumstances that are slowly becoming more known, some people here have some of the magical Gifts of that world. You have what they would call Mage Gift mostly subsumed into your own magic. But your Gift is powerful enough that it couldn't be fully absorbed. That's why I suspect you've always been better at getting magic to work for you. You shape your spells more with thought than with speech. It's just the way your Gift has made you." It was Maricella's turn to look dumbfounded.

"Elani can teach you how to master that Gift, how to use it safely and how to reach its potential." He shrugged. "It's purely up to you on that note. If you don't want to learn then you should be ok for now. But if you keep on using it as you are right now, it'll eventually unlock. And considering your Mage Gift is just below Adept level, that could make things rather...interesting for the immediate area."

"As in the Chinese?" Maricella asked cautiously and Harry blinked in confusion.

"You know, there's no evidence of that being a real Chinese phrase." Hermione cut in tartly, drawing startled looks from the other two teenagers. "What? It isn't!" Maricella sighed.

"Ok, from the ancient _Persian_ if I have to be historically correct!" She half-snapped. "And I can _show_ you proof of that." Hermione blinked.

"I...I...ok." She said softly, Maricella's swift response surprising her and driving her back intellectually. Then the redhead shook her head.

"Sorry. Headaches make me snappy." She said softly. "You didn't deserve that." She turned her eyes back to Harry. "But I'm guess that this 'interesting' of yours would be unpleasant for – if not myself – everyone around me, correct?"

"Yes." Harry responded and she sighed again.

"Then I cannot refuse your offer." She said with a bittersweet smile.

"Well I'm glad that's dealt with then." Elani said from behind them, ducking through the curtains with a smile as all three young adults jumped. "What? It doesn't take _that_ long to grab a potion."

Maricella and Harry looked at each other and then sighed and Elani suppressed a snigger. "Mari, here's your potion. It should at least dull the pain. You can go to classes today, but I will want you all back here at lunch for a check up. And for you two," she pointed at Harry and Maricella, "I'll walk you through basic control." She sobered slightly. "Whilst you've both had training, actual in Harry's case and instinctual in yours, Maricella, you're going to need quite a bit more before you're anywhere close to being able to use the full power of your Gifts safely. But that's a discussion for later. Now; Mari, you need to drink that potion and the whole lot of you need to get dressed and get breakfast." She breezed out through the curtains, heading back to her office station and Harry chuckled.

"Yes mother." He replied softly with a smile and the two girls laughed.

"Come on Maricella," Hermione said, grabbing the Slytherin girl's hand. "Our clothes should be over here." She gently pulled the young woman through the curtains towards a table at the other end of the room.

A few minutes later, fully clothed and shaven, Harry stepped out through the same curtains to be met by the sight of Hermione and Maricella experimenting with charms.

"..you see, it's a twirl, not a twist. See." Maricella finished, twirling her wand in a clockwise motion. Harry felt his jaw try to drop as Hermione's hair smoothed out, the frizziness vanishing as Maricella moved her twirling wand tip downwards, stretching the brown curls out into a magically maintained arrangement akin to that she had worn at the Yule Ball almost two years ago. Hermione gasped as her image changed in the mirror she had levitated before her.

"Mari, that's _incredible_." She gasped, almost breathless at the change to how she looked, spinning on the spot in her robes. "Oh! Harry!" Maricella whirled at Hermione's startled exclamation, the tip of her wand flaring with sudden colour before fading as she recognised the person on the other end of her almost cast curse.

"Sorry." Harry said quickly, his apology overlapping with Maricella's. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Although," humour edged into his tone, "could that do anything for this, I wonder?" He indicated his own mess of black hair. Maricella laughed cheerfully.

"Oh, I _could_. But why would I want to. You suit hair like that, it breaks up your silhouette, makes you easier on the eyes. Not to mention that I doubt you'd like the reaction from the feminine half of Hogwarts if you started walking around with it wavy like this." She indicated Hermione's hair and smirked. "So if for nothing but the survival of your sanity – limited as it is," she chuckled, "I'm not going to show you how to use this charm." Harry shook his head with a slight smile.

"But sanity is _so_ overrated." He mock pouted.

"I know. But I think your friends would like you have at least _some_." Maricella replied. "Now, shall we?" She asked, throwing the doors of the Hospital Wing wide. Harry quirked an eyebrow at Hermione, receiving a smile for his trouble and shook his head again.

"Maricella,"

"Please, Mari. It's easier." She cut in quickly.

"Fair enough." He smiled. "_Mari_, I think we're going to get along just fine."

* * *

The trek down through the castle was much easier today. A good night's sleep – enhanced by what Cerys had done – had restored their energy reserves enough that a short walk was more a chore than a challenge. Still, at Harry's advice, they took it slowly, reaching the Great Hall about ten minutes after leaving the Hospital Wing. The small group had drawn a few looks, but most had been more curious than anything else. This had confused Harry and Hermione until they noticed that Maricella's robes had no house insignia. That had confused them even more. But they had managed to restrain their urge to ask why. If Maricella wanted to tell them, she would.

They had been just as surprised as the rest of Hogwarts by the doors of the Entrance Hall being open at this hour. But as they came walking down the stairs towards the doors of the Great Hall, they couldn't deny that it had been a good thing. They didn't know why it was a good thing – none of the pupils at Hogwarts did. But it steadied them somehow, that smooth mix of pine, water and warmth. Harry could feel that steadiness in the people around him – and in himself – and it was a strange feeling to be so widespread. He would have tried to look into it further then, but was distracted – as was the rest of the student populace – when a large group of Aurors stormed through the open doors of the Entrance Hall, led by the current Minister for Magic. Harry suppressed a growl as he picked out the green bowler hat of Cornelius Fudge.

"Would someone _please_ explain to me how he's still in power?" He muttered darkly.

"Mainly your disappearance." Hermione murmured back. "He used it as a reason to get the Wizengamot to grant him temporary emergency powers until you were found. Therefore, no elections until you got back. Oh, people are still working against him and he's had to be a lot more careful about things. But, however much I hate to admit it, he's a damn good politician."

"So unfortunate that we don't _need_ a politician in charge right now, however good he may be." Maricella added. "Bones and Scrimgeour have been laying groundwork to bring him down from power since Voldemort's return was confirmed. But with the emergency powers." She shrugged. "They've managed to pull some of the regulations on the Aurors, the really limiting ones on training and the like. But they're still working on removing most of the bureaucratic shackles the DMLE has on it."

The Aurors opened a path through the crowd around the entrance to the Great Hall, allowing Fudge and the two non-Aurors with him through into the massive hall where he stormed forward, flanked by eight of the Aurors who had come with him whilst the rest fanned out across the Hall.

"Cornelius!" Albus cried from the head of the teacher's table. "What is going on?" He asked, confused.

"Oh, you'll see." Fudge replied icily before turning to the two cloaked figures behind him. "Surveyors, summon it." He continued.

"Sir." One of the figures replied in a slightly worried tone, pushing back the hood of his cloak. "I have to ask you again, are you _sure_ you want to do this?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Fudge snapped. "Now do your duty and summon it!" The man opened his mouth as if to speak again and then stopped.

"Very well." He shrugged his cloak off, revealing robes badged with a Celtic Cross overlaying the letters 'DMS' as his companion followed his lead. They moved out from each other and their wands moved, scribing a circle on the floor of the Hall.

"Cornelius." Albus said again, calmer this time. "I cannot allow you to be casting magic I do not know here. How do you know that my pupils are sa-"

"Albus, this is Ministry business." Fudge responded curtly. "And this is the only place this can be done. And it needs to be done _now_." The circle was glowing now, white light reaching upwards to form a cylinder of energy as the two DMS members chanted softly.

Light shimmered within the room, scattering out of the walls into the cylinder and a few people, Hermione among them, gasped as they recognised it.

"It's a summoning circle." She whispered. "They're calling something here." She shook her head in confusion. "But _what_? Callings can't work through the wards so it would have to be something that was already here." Maricella's face paled as the brunette continued speaking.

"Harry, when you were attacked do you remember that something saved us after the curse hit the wall?" She asked quickly. "The same thing that destroyed the assassin."

"I...yes. There _was_ something there. Elani and my other teacher were going to try and work out what it was last night. Bu-"

"Look!" The cry cut across Harry's statement as something started to coalesce in the centre of the summoning circle. The motes of light spun in on themselves before slamming out into the cloudy white 'walls' of the circle, sending cracks across their previously smooth surface. The two DMS employees paled slightly, but continued chanting. Dumbledore opened his mouth again, raising his wand as the motes of light compressed down into a sphere of radiant light. The two casting the circle looked up, blinked once and then lowered their wands.

"What are you doing?" Fudge demanded as the circle started to dissipate. "Keep casting!" The DMS man shook his head.

"No. We told you, Minister." The woman replied. "And this is something that we can't work against." They pointed their wands at the summoning circle. "_Genitus_." They intoned simultaneously and their wands flared with power, wiping the circle out of existence.

But the sphere of light persisted, pulling in more light until it was almost blinding before exploding outwards in wave eerily similar to the one Harry had created the day before, sweeping out over the Great Hall. And suddenly the ground dropped out from beneath Harry, Maricella and every other Mage-Gifted in the hall as a figure wove itself into being where the two members of the DMS had created their circle.

"Hello Minister. That really wasn't the nicest way to greet me." Cerys said softly.

"I...I...who are you?" Fudge yelled, levelling his wand at the young woman before him. "And how are you here! No one can Apparate within Hogwarts!" Cerys raised a single elegant eyebrow, her expression neutral.

"Minister, I _didn't_." She replied coolly and the man's face reddened.

"You're lying to me! How did you get through the wards of Hogwarts! And what are you doing here! I'll have you thrown into Azkaban for life for what you've done!" He continued, still shouting. "Threatening hundreds of wizarding children! And how did you even manage it? You're barely twenty!" Cerys's eyes glinted slightly in the light.

"I already told you Minister," Cerys's voice was calm, unconcerned even, "I _didn't_ get through the wards. And I've been here for longer than you've been alive."

"Oh really?" Fudge's tone turned vitriolic. "You're telling me that a teenager has been here longer than I've been alive? How stupid do you think I am?" He glanced around him. "Aurors! Take this young lady into custody!" A mishmash of spell-phrases echoed across the Great Hall as the Aurors raised their wands swiftly and Cerys shook her head as it was met by nothingness. Fudge blinked and then took a step back. "What the _hell_ are you?" He demanded furiously before his hand cut across any reply. "No. I don't care!" He yelled, his wand moving in an odd, spiralling pattern.

"No! Don't!" The two DMS members yelled.

"You have no place here, aberration!" He half-spat. "No place in these halls that the Founders themselves shed blood and _tears_ to create! They would _weep_ t-" He didn't get any further.

No one saw Cerys move. No one saw even a _twitch_ hinting at what she was about to do either. She was simply _there_ and the sound of a slap echoed across the room as Cornelius Fudge went soaring up and across the Great Hall, slamming into the wall above its main doors. And before he could even _begin_ to fall, she had moved again. And this time no trick of the light could hide it. She flickered across the room in an eye-blink, ending her travel holding the Minister one-handed by the scruff of his robes and standing on empty air.

She swung around, still holding Fudge – incidentally placing him between her and every Auror in the room – and her silver eyes blazed with fury.

"You can threaten me, you can call me a liar, you can even try to remove me from these halls." She whispered viciously, her words echoing through the now silent Great Hall. "But if there is one thing you will never do, it will be to try and tell me that my own **parents **wouldn't want me here!" Fudge gibbered incoherently and then stopped as the spirit's words sank in. Indeed, the entire Great Hall stopped at those words, the silence from before being replaced with a deafening oppressiveness that pressed down on each of the room's occupants. It was frightening that silence; both in its feeling and its total fragility as Cerys and Fudge locked gazes for a long moment. But for all his experience, Fudge was outclassed in this conflict. Memories flashed invisibly between the two, pouring out of Cerys's mind in a torrent of explanation and the Minister slumped in her grasp.

"I understand." He whispered sincerely, his voice cracking slightly and the two were suddenly back on the ground as Cerys released him. He took a step back to his Aurors, raised his hands and pushed down the wands around him. "Aurors. Stand down." He said, throwing his voice across the entire Hall with the practised ease of a politician of his calibre. "Even if she _was_ a threat, you'd simply be wasting energy." He continued, muttering that last, albeit loud enough to be heard by most of the people in the Great Hall. "Can I at least have my other employees back?" He asked, almost plaintively.

"No." She replied calmly. "They'll be back when they're needed." She shook her head. "And no, your wanting to use them as a scapegoat for one of your favourite's idiocy doesn't make them needed." Her eyes glinted again as he started to open his mouth. "Deal with it." Fudge sighed and then gestured to the Aurors.

"Come on, we're done here." He said, before leading them out of the Great Hall past Cerys.

"Hello." She said tentatively, to be met by confused – and some somewhat frightened – faces. "Oh, right, forgot to introduce myself. Sorry." She said quickly, stepping across the room - and onto the teacher's table - in a single stride and turning to face the dumbfounded looks of over a thousand teenagers. "Ok, this is going to sound slightly strange and just about completely impossible but here goes. My name is Cerys and I was brought into this world about a thousand years ago by the four you call the Founders of Hogwarts. I have been asleep for a long time, forced into slumber to prevent the destruction of this school." She continued, riding the wave of shock that had rippled out with her words, stunning an audience that had thought itself beyond surprise. "And during that time I have neglected my duties to your predecessors."

"Your duties?" A small voice spoke up from the Ravenclaw table.

"Yes." Cerys took a deep, steadying breath and continued. "My duties as a protector and guardian for all within my walls. Duties that should have fallen to your teachers and that have been sadly neglected. But that neglect, unlike the pain it caused to your predecessors, can be cured. And it will." She shook her head, tone softening. "But for now, for now know that I will be here with you in the times ahead. And that I will tear this world apart to keep you safe."

* * *

**AN:** Bwhahahahahahahahahahaa! Sorry, minor villainous breakdown, pay no attention. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed reading this, it was a huge amount of fun to write – which some of you may have realised considering what happened towards the end. Chapter 18 isn't quite done right now and I'm flying into the teeth of my exams at this point so writing more of this will be taking a backseat. Sorry. I'll try to have it done by mid-June.

Many thanks once again to ShinjuKuroba for betaing this for me. And thanks to you again as well for reading this. Comments would brighten my day. And on that note, Happy Birthday to me. Twenty today :)


	18. Chapter 18

**AN:** First things first, sorry for the delay. I got most of this down then my mind went off on a tangent that needed a total re-write. But it's here at last :) Now, on the subject of replies. Gina, I'm just getting started. And the end of this chapter is worse – so I'm told. WV, thank you for the happy birthday and apologies again for this taking so long. I'm really happy you've never seen a plot like this before, I'm doing everything in my power to try and make it original as possible. Hope you enjoy this too. Sossity, excuse me a moment whilst I _collapse_ laughing :P Thank you for the birthday wishes as well, and don't worry. Cerys won't carry through on that oath. I think...

* * *

Shock. That was the only word for the reaction to Cerys's words. But she wasn't finished, not yet. She flickered off of the table she had been standing on, facing the Professors of Hogwarts and a smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "I know you have questions and likely the same ones as our pupils. So ask and I will answer what I can." She gestured encouragingly. "Please, ask what you will."

"So you...you say that you're the daughter of all four Founders?" Flitwick asked carefully. "How is that possible?" Cerys allowed her mouth to curve into a full smile.

"My parents were very clever people, Filius. And they knew that without something to hold them together, to give them another focus after the euphoria of the completion of their dream faded, their friendship would tear itself apart from within. They were each too clever, too strong willed to co-exist without a joint focus." Her smile turned slightly as she sighed before straightening. "They also knew that they couldn't live forever and they wanted something of themselves to live on to protect this school and the pupils they knew it would draw. And so they created me for that purpose." The half-goblin's eyes widened – as did Albus's and a few others – and she nodded. "Yes. I think you know what I'm talking about."

"Whilst myself and some of my colleagues might, I don't think anyone else in this room does." The half-goblin said, almost pointedly and Cerys chuckled.

"True." She turned. "I was created by the Founders by a modified version of the _Iunctio Animus_ ritual spell." She was met mostly by blank faces, but a few gasps punctuated the silence and she pointed to one of those who had gasped. "From your reaction, I'm guessing you know a little about that ritual, yes?" She asked gently of the stunned Ravenclaw she had singled out who simply nodded. "Don't be shy little one. What is your name?"

"Su...Su Li." The black haired Asian replied, frantically trying to regain her composure as the entire school focused on her.

"And what do you know of the _Iunctio Animus_?" Cerys asked, being very gentle.

"I...I don't really know much," the teenager – acting much more like what she was than usual – half-stammered. "I know that a ritual known as the _Necto Animus_ was used several centuries ago by a fledging Dark Lord to try and give himself an army that could never betray him by binding their souls to him." She shrugged, her composure returning as she continued speaking. "I've never actually heard of the _Iunctio Animus_, but by the wording... Yes. If _Necto Animus_ was a binding of souls then Iunctio Animus would be a..." She looked up at Cerys, her face transforming into awe. "joining?" The spirit nodded.

"Keep going." She said, filling her voice with encouragement.

"You're a...a melding of a piece of the each of the Founders _souls_?" Li burst out and Cerys nodded again.

"Exactly."

"But...but how are you still alive?"

"I said it was a variation. And remember that they wanted to create a guardian for this school."

"They bound you into the grounds, didn't they!" Hermione cried, then blushed as the attention focused on Su swung, slamming down onto her. "I...sorry." She muttered. "I was just...just..."

"Children, let her breath." Cerys said, moving across the Hall in a flicker of magic, disrupting the piercing gazes directed at Hermione with her step, appearing in front of her and cocking her head. "Ah yes. I remember you. Hermione Granger. You were one of the ones I protected yesterday." She looked round, taking in the stunned faces of Harry and Maricella. "And you were the other two. Harry Potter and Maricella Tedesca." She waved a hand over the three, her palm radiating a faint emerald glow. Maricella's headache vanished, washing away as Cerys's hand fell back to her side and the three straightened suddenly as healing power surged through them. "I am sorry that I did not react faster." They blinked at her then, almost as one:

"Thank you."

"It is a poor exchange, but I appreciate your thanks." She replied. "Now, I believe you were saying something about the reason I wasn't dead, yes?" She asked impishly.

"I...yes." The tension, broken slightly by Cerys's flicker, was back again as Hermione continued with her answer. "There's a book I've been reading." There was a slightly ripple of laughter at that and she shook her head good-naturedly before continuing. "One of the chapters, it talks about how to prolong the existence of a magical construct by binding it to a physical body. According to the book it's how most wards stay active, although the exact mechanics behind how it works are a mystery."

"Very good. The reason it works is quite simple actually." Cerys replied, smiling at her. "Although you're not quite ready for that answer yet." She turned back to the teacher's table, flickering across the Great Hall as she did so. "And you have your answer Filius, from the mouths of your own students. Is there anything else?"

"How the hell are you doing that?" Dumbledore cried. His hand jabbed out, pointing at where she had been, then at where she was now and then back and forth between the two. "You can't...you _can't Apparate inside Hogw_-"

"I'm not." Cerys cut in. Dumbledore blinked. Then he blinked again.

"I...uh..._**what**_?" He finally choked out.

"I'm not Apparating." She said, her tone taking on the patient mannerisms of a disappointed parent. "You do remember, just about a minute ago, the bit about me being connected to the entirety of this school's grounds."

"I...how dare you talk to Albus Dumbledore like that!" Professor McGonagall barked, rising to her feet in an instant as Cerys's words sank in. Cerys looked at her. Just looked. For about a second. And then Minerva sank back into her chair. "I...I'm sorry."

"Thank you Minerva." Cerys replied coolly, inclining her head. "Now Albus, have you worked it out?" The Headmaster's brow furrowed with concentration and then his eyes widened.

"You're...you're bound into these grounds. And that means you're _everywhere_." His face tightened invisibly and Cerys nodded.

"Yes it does." She said, eyes narrowing slightly. "Why does that worry you?"

"Why would it?" Dumbledore replied, his tone artfully maintained by decades of experience and Cerys shook her head, her smile taking on a sad edge.

"You'll work it out one day." She said softly, magic focusing her words so that only Dumbledore could hear them. "But I think...I think you will be too late." She turned away from the teachers to the wide eyes of her pupils. "I know both you and your teachers have more questions. But it will take weeks for me to answer all of them." Her voice sang across the Hall, clearly audible to everyone inside as well as those in the Entrance Hall, as she rose up into the air. "I will answer them children, I swear that. But you need to eat." Rainbows shimmered around her, forming a transparent veil of colour and her smile was somehow both soft and dazzling all at once. "And you need to work out what they're going to ask first." She swept her hands out, palms cupped, and everyone in the Entrance Hall was suddenly seated in the Great. She turned back to the professors. "Be gentle on them today. They need it. And so do you." Her hands came up towards each other, light building in the centre of each palm. Then they touched.

Light exploded out across the Great Hall, millions of motes falling out of nothingness into the air and sinking down onto those within. Gasps of delight and joy filled the hall as the light soaked through the occupants, but a few weren't so distracted. They blinked, clearing their eyes from the flash and then looked up. Cerys was gone.

* * *

"Tell me _everything_ you know about a woman known as Cerys!" Dumbledore barked as he burst into his office, startling the portraits out of slumber. He was met by a chorus of groans and half-questions, which he cut off ruthlessly. "Wake up. All of you! I am threatened and I need your counsel!" He cried. "You are part of this castle. If what she said was true, you _have_ to know of her!"

"Know of who?" Dilys replied sharply. "You burst in here and start yelling questions. We're _asleep_ most of the ti-"

"Cerys! That's who!" The portraits blanched and went quiet at Dumbledore's shout. "What do you know of he-"

"Albus!" Phineas interjected shortly and the current Headmaster whirled.

"What?" Dumbledore half-spat.

"Albus, we have been guides for you in many things." The black haired man said gently. "But there

is a limit both to what we know and what we can _tell_ you."

"This is _my_ office! _My_ school! I decide what you can tell me!"

"No. No you don't." Armando Dippet replied calmly. "A power far greater than you has awakened within this school. And she knew you would do this."

"Oh really?" Albus's eyes blazed with fiery contempt. "I'll show her how we deal wit-" Light flared around him and he cut off abruptly. Phineas shook his head.

"Albus, _listen to me_. You're no match for her. Not in her domain. And this entire school is that. So use the mind we know you have. _Please_." Albus growled something intelligible, expression thunderous. Then it changed.

"Fawkes!" The Phoenix looked up and winged over to the elderly wizard with a chirp. Albus nodded at the splendiferous bird. Fawkes cocked his head in midair, then dropped onto the Headmaster's shoulder. There was a flare of ruby flame in the centre of the office and the two vanished.

Dippet shook his head.

"You do know Phineas, that there's not a thing he can do to her." He half-asked.

"Of course I do, Armando." The older Headmaster replied. "But if we can just make him _see_ that..." He trailed off hopefully and Dilys smiled.

"Clever Phineas. I always knew you were a schemer." He smirked at the silver haired woman.

"My dear, I was – and forever am – a Slytherin of the old school. Scheming is maybe a little more difficult than _breathing_."

"Of course." Everard spoke up. "But this would be a different manner of scheme to your usual would it not. Most before now have involved hiding or obscuring things. This one must reveal a truth that Albus will have great difficulty accepting."

"I know. And I'm not saying that it will be a quick or easy scheme to pull off. But if we do it right it might, just _might_ give us back what we need."

"Very well Phineas. What is your plan?"

"Well. First..."

* * *

Everything changes. Sometimes that change comes quick. Sometimes it takes time. And sometimes, sometimes people want to _enforce_ rapid change. Albus Dumbledore was one such individual. But he had run into a serious problem during the beginnings of his Order. Compulsions needed constant renewal that he didn't have the time for, potions had rather...unsavoury side effects when used for too long – on both sides – and Legilimency? Don't even _go_ there if you're looking for truly long term solutions. Oh sure, there were some other spells that could be used but they were undeniably Dark for one thing and almost certain to bring attention that he definitely _couldn't_ survive down on him. So he needed someone to help him create another way.

He found a young, insightfully gifted Arithmancer – just out of Hogwarts – who was easily convinced to lend her talents to his cause. It took several years of concerted effort, fighting through problems that would have stymied lesser wizards, but, eventually, they managed it. And it was a beautifully elegant solution, regardless of what it had taken to get there. They worked out a way to bind a compulsion to a wizard's internal magic, giving it a power source so that it could renew _itself_. It was the work of certified geniuses, they both knew that, even with its single flaw. Albus was unable to properly cast this sort of magic. He didn't know why – and neither did his partner – but a binding cast by him would inevitably degrade and fail. It was one of his most infuriating failures, but it had probably been a good thing in truth. It had given him someone outside of himself – and later, his portraits – that he could run ideas by. And on attaining his position as Headmaster, he had...obtained...the position of Arithmancy Professor for his younger partner. Every member of the Order was slowly bound into the web of compulsions that kept them loyal, with each new member being bound within a week of their joining. He and Septima had, of course, designed the spell to be entirely non-verbal.

And then, one bright day almost forty years ago, he realised exactly how powerful the weapon he and Septima had forged truly was. And how it could be used to make the world better. And things started to change. It was slow of course, it had to be. But it _happened_. Setting compulsions on the Ministers was difficult, but with his position it was far from impossible. And with the Ministry suborned to his will, he moved on to more...valuable targets. It was easier than they had expected, the only issue being that Albus didn't want to be a truly visible leader unless he had to. That put a few blocks between them and what he wanted, but not insurmountable ones. So they started small, working their way into the Noble Houses of the Wizengamot with cautious persistence.

It took over a decade to bring enough of the Noble Houses into the fold to give him the power-base he truly needed; a decade fraught with worry, risks and barely avoided traps. But a decade filled also with exultation and success. And at the end of it, he stood unopposed within the Wizengamot. The Ancient Houses were too divided to form a block against him and with most of the Noble on his side he could work freely.

He worked slowly still though, gently spinning a circlet of steel around the neck of Wizarding Britain. He made them rely on him, come to _need_ him even, making himself indispensable. And slowly but surely his power grew. But there were some, some who did not accept his plan to change the world. His plans interfered with theirs, or cut against their ethics, or his idea of a perfect world was not theirs. It had pained him then, and it still did today, that he had had to show them why he was right. Sadly, not everyone would agree. It was human, and understandable. But that did not make it impossible to deal with; however much he might dislike the methods they forced him to use, it was better than the alternative. And so it went for two decades. He would persuade those against him that what he was doing was right, that he would not do it unless it was so. And they would accept, eventually. Sometimes they needed prompting, but only sometimes. Things were progressing, perhaps not smoothly, but the changes were happening.

And then Tom Riddle burst upon the scene like a rogue hurricane.

Those had been dark times, both for the Wizarding World and Albus's great Plan. In the space of barely three years, Tom and his followers undid almost a decade of painstaking work, tearing it apart with ignorant abandon. Attempts to cripple his movement via passive methods – leaking his history or trying to cut off access to his follower's accounts – ended in bloodstained failure. Tom and his Death Eaters might proclaim to be primarily blood purist in intent, in truth quite a few probably were. But when it came down to it, Tom was too aware of the dangers of locking himself to one cause – or one source of funding.

And Albus, the one who always had a plan for any situation, was caught off-guard and without. He had, of course, known what Tom and his 'Death Eaters' had been doing. But he had _not_ expected them to move so fast. He had observed several such movements in the past, manipulating them into self-resolving solutions that needed little from him except a regal nod and a word or two to his contacts. But the Death Eaters jumped from disreputable young gentlemen all the way through to terrorist group in bare _months_. And it was that jump, a jump that came out of the blue and took the entire Wizarding World by surprise, that caused the true problems. Not least that, even now, no one knew what had prompted it. It had simply _happened_.

Caught off balance and in entirely the wrong positions to deal with a fully-fledged terrorist network, the Order of the Phoenix took horrendous losses in the opening stages of Tom's rise to power. Not because he knew of them – he didn't. But because at that time the Order's members were positioned within the Wizarding World in such a way that they were prime targets for Death Eater attacks. They didn't get all of them, but the plethora of techniques used in the attacks – some not seen since the Reformation – all but annihilated Albus's best agents. And this required him to rely on the secondary, or even tertiary, levels of the Order during a situation where he desperately needed his best. And it also meant that he had to fast-track recruiting if he wanted to stay on an equal footing with Tom. And whilst the Death Eaters ripped his work to shreds from without, a few new recruits began to pick at it from within.

And when the smoke cleared, the Order was a fractured shell of its former self. All levels had taken hideous losses; losses that even now he was only just beginning to be able to properly patch. Internal strife had ravaged the secondary and tertiary member base, reaching down from the latter into the former after several uplifts to the secondary levels had had problems with what little of the Plan they had been told about.

But all had not been lost. The years of terror, and the part played by both the Order and Albus in ending them, vaulted him into esteem alike to that after his defeat of Grindlewald. And whilst it forced him out of the background somewhat more than he had wanted, it also meant that he wasn't set back a decade.

But now a very different problem had presented itself, one that he had absolutely no clue on how to deal with. And so Albus made his way to the one place that always gave him the answers he needed. The true base of the Order of the Phoenix. A place that none but a Phoenix could travel to and that Fawkes had shared with him many years ago.

The two flared into being in the heart of a great stone building. The air was warm and outside he knew it would be humid. But in here, magic kept the air dry. These books were too precious to risk.

_:Hello Albus:_ The voice resonated in his head, as it always did. _:What brings you to the Sanctum of the Flames?:_

"I..." he paused, hesitant – as always. Something gently touched his Occlumency shields and he continued. "I need your help. Something has appeared that I do not understand."

_:I see. Who, and what, is this something?:_ The voice asked smoothly.

"She calls herself Cerys." He said, and then at the behest of that strange mental prompting. "I've never seen anything like her. She says she's a Guardian for my school, a creation of its Founders." Something shifted in the room and Albus blinked as the voice turned intensely interested.

_:A guardian you say? A creation of...no:_ The voice in his mind cut off, incredulous, then returned with a wave of almost predatory interest.

_:Tell me more of this Guardian of yours...:_

* * *

**AN:** And there we go. I really hope you enjoyed this, regardless of the delay. This is an interesting chapter, interesting as it is probably the last of the major exposition chapters for a while and interesting in the fact that I think I'm going to finally be able to move the timeline forward a bit. Second day of term, here we come!

Many thanks once again go to ShinjuKuroba for her awesome betaing work and to all of you who read this. Without you, this wouldn't have any reason to continue.

All critiques and comments are – as usual – greatly appreciated.

Wind to thy wings


	19. Chapter 19

**AN:** Sossity, yes, yes it is. Enjoy trying to work out how.

* * *

Over the next few days, the pupils of Hogwarts slowly settled back into their familiar routine with a lurching slowness almost akin to a smaller version of how the Wizarding World had reacted to Voldemort's death. Classes went by gently, teachers assigning far less pressing work – and precious little homework – than they normally would. And they began to learn what it was like to live with a Guardian Spirit watching over them. The first thing that really got noticed was the total disappearance of bullying. In _all_ of its forms.

It didn't happen all at once, a few people got missed the first time or two. Whatever Cerys might be, she wasn't capable of full omnipresence. However, a great deal of the school was present for her dealing with the _last_ instance – committed by one Draco Malfoy.

It had been after lunch two days after Cerys had made herself known to the school. The Prophet had remained silent on the issue of the ancient Guardian Spirit in the school, concentrating on more mundane issues. And Draco had 'accidentally' knocked over one of the muggleborn second years, then launched into a scorching, scornful display of wordplay about how muggleborns were clumsy and useless, reducing the second year to tears. It was at that point that Cerys had noticed. And reacted. Malfoy had already slighted her once before, although he had stopped before going too far when the roof had rumbled at him. This time she gave him no such warning. One second he was looming above the curled in on herself second year, the next the wall behind him had gone liquid and he'd been pulled in. And then solidified, leaving only his face – and those of his cronies – visible. Cerys had then manifested in front of him and given him the type of talking to that several teachers had wished they'd been able to do for years.

And it had actually gotten _worse_ when Draco, displaying a lack of common sense usually more notable in certain types of fish and insects, had attempted to threaten her with his usual "my father will deal with you". And Cerys, she couldn't help it. She had laughed at him. In the middle of the entrance hall. Right. After. Lunch. She had then informed him that he and his friends could stay in the wall until all of them would apologise properly to the second year he had verbally attacked. His lackeys – terrified by the threat of possibly permanent entombment – had apologised to her satisfaction quite promptly. Draco, on the other hand, proved that one could still exhibit stubborn stupidity in the face of the unmatchable by yelling at both Cerys and the girl she had protected – a Ravenclaw by the name of Chrysanthe - that he would never apologise for exercising his rights.

Well, he tried to at least. About half way through his rant, his mouth had rather abruptly vanished. He remained stubborn for all of the twenty minutes it took Professor Snape to inform him that there was no way that would not carry the possibility of grievous bodily harm of getting him out of the wall. And that was if Cerys _wasn't_ shielding the thing.

After that, everything short of comedic teasing kinda ceased. And didn't start again. Of course, the fact that Cerys kept to her word and released Malfoy came with its own problems. But the fact that his minions were no longer quite willing to do whatever he told them – the little issue of Cerys watching them most of the time had a rather telling effect there – struck a blow against the Slytherin's power and pride. And following the rather pointed comments about how his father was unlikely to have any more success against Cerys than Fudge, Draco decided against sending a letter to his father about the current unsatisfactory shifts in Hogwart's balance of power. Namely the fact that a new side had popped into being that was more powerful than all the others combined.

Luckily, Cerys gave the community of Hogwarts about a week to adjust before she embarked on her _next_ project. Setting the Hogwart's Library to rights.

And that time allowed several of the consequences from the events that had taken place on the 2nd to take effect. First was the Daily Prophet report on the apparently accidental mutilation of Dolores Umbridge, after being caught in a magical overload at the Ministry. She was currently in a stable condition at St Mungos, being slowly pieced back together from ribbons of flesh. The Ministry refused comment on the department involved in the accident.

Alex and Anne settled into their new routine at Hogwarts, acting as guides and teachers for Cerys as she started to learn about everything that had changed since she had last been awake. She learnt quickly, but there were so many concepts, so many things that had been discovered since then that it was going to take her months – maybe even years – to catch up completely in between keeping the school safe and running. But she was busy, and she was happy too.

Harry eventually managed to get the try outs for the Gryffindor Quidditch team together for that weekend, posting a notice on the Gryffindor common room notice board. But between the weekend and his posting that notice, he finally had to face what he had known was coming after his inadvertent Gift use on Ginny. Albus asked to talk with him after dinner the night he posted the notice. Luckily it wasn't the night right after it those events had taken place, giving Harry time to recover and prepare for the veiled interrogation session.

"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said jovially at Harry's knock. "Come in, come in." He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. "Sit down, please. I wanted to ask you if you were ok after all that happened to you on the first day of term. I would have asked earlier but," he shrugged helplessly, "you know how it is. Never enough hours in the day." Harry nodded warily and Albus smiled brilliantly. "Now, _are_ you all right? I know that Madame Pomfrey and Healer Leysha cleared you, but.." he trailed off and Harry stifled a sigh.

"I'm fine now sir. I was a little exhausted the last few days, but I'm just about back to normal now." He said carefully.

"Excellent. Excellent." Dumbledore said happily. "Now, I was wondering if you could indulge an old man and try to tell me what happened on the 2nd. Starting from after Potions?" He caught Harry's suspicious look and sighed. "Harry, I'm really not sure what I've done to make you this suspicious of me, but I promise you, I'm just trying to make sure you're safe." He impeached gently, eyes soft. Harry looked back at him for a second, assessing with his Gift, and then sighed.

"I'm just..." he paused, searching for words.

"Trying to stay safe, yes?" Albus asked and Harry nodded. "Ah." He continued brightly. "That I can understand, regardless of how much it may hurt to know that I'm one of those that you're re-evaluating." His eyes crinkled as he smiled. "But I can understand. And the fact that you're doing it to everyone, no matter who much you trust, is a relief." His tone was quite normal, but there was a...something behind that last sentence that Harry couldn't decipher. And Albus didn't give him the time. "So, would you be willing to explain as much as you can? I know that you were attacked and that you reacted as you usually do in such situations – with the selfless courage that has always made you so special." Harry coloured slightly at the comment and Albus chuckled. "I give you no praise that you do not deserve, my boy.

"So you were attacked and then – I believe – saved by our awakening Guardian, yes?" Dumbledore paused and Harry nodded once more. "Well, that explains a few things." He shrugged and laughed lightly at Harry's look. "Oh, don't look so worried, it's just a theory of mine. If it ever comes to anything I'll tell you, ok?"

"O...k" Harry replied, slightly confused. He knew that Albus wasn't capable of blocking the Empathic Gift, but he was getting almost nothing but truth from the Headmaster right now.

"So, you were saved by Cerys and then moved – with Miss Granger and Miss Tedesca – to the Hospital Wing to recover. You, quite unusually, actually regained consciousness first." Harry blinked, had Dumbledore just told a - "Yes, that was a joke Harry. Considering your record in the Hospital Wing, I couldn't help it." Albus chuckled again at the look on the young man's face. "And then you went down to dinner with Miss Lovegood and _here_ is where things get strange." Harry nodded at the implicit request and took up the thread.

"It was on the way down towards the Entrance Hall." He said, part of him unbelieving that he was doing so. "Dean and Ginny were having an argument – I'm really not sure how it started – but I caught the tail end of it." His face tightened imperceptibly. "I was actually a _part_ of that tail end." Albus nodded serenely.

"Yes, so I hear. Miss Weasley apparently broke it off with Mr Thomas as you came down the stairs, before proclaiming that she had been to see you in the Hospital Wing and that you had 'realised that you loved each other after the incident that afternoon and didn't want to waste a moment of it' correct?"

"Yes."

"Any you rejected this as untrue?" Albus asked and then held up his hands in a placating gesture at Harry's glare. "Harry, I _know_ that nothing of that sort happened. However this was a quite beautiful young woman literally throwing herself into your arms. One that I believe you have entertained at least a few thoughts about regarding a relationship beyond that of good friends." He said kindly, and Harry coloured again. "Yes, I rather thought so. So what was the reason for the rejection? I won't hold it against you but I _would_ like to know – if you're willing to tell me." Harry looked at him closely and the Headmaster grinned ruefully. "Ok, I'd also like to know the details of what happened between her statement and your rejection. Especially the part where every piece of glass within about fifty foot of where you were standing shattered. However," he continued, his tone accommodating, "as you're still working out who you can trust fully, I can understand if you aren't quite willing to talk to me about it. And if the reasons behind your rejection involve that, then simply say and we can leave this here." Harry couldn't help it, he blinked in surprise, and Dumbledore smiled. "I'm not unreasonable Harry. I can understand the needs for secrets and re-evaluations of loyalty and trust." He sighed. "I've had to do it many times. And as such, if I may offer you a piece of advice. When finding anew who you can trust, never draw too much from one source."

"I..thank you, Sir." Harry said. "I'll remember that. But I'm afraid you're right about what happened between me and Ginny. It's...too much to explain right now."

"That's perfectly understandable Harry." Albus responded – and Harry again felt nothing but truth behind that statement. "But if you are ever able to trust me with it, know that I simply want what's best for you." He gestured at the door. "Now if there's nothing you wish to ask or tell me, you're free to go. Thank you for your time."

Harry had left then, confused and in a much better mood with the Headmaster then he had been previously. It wasn't until he found time to talk with Avira – using the reason of asking about a new spell – that he realised how easily he had been played. From that point on, he resolved to do everything in his power to avoid personal conversations with Albus. And yet there was still that final piece of advice that wouldn't leave him: _Never draw too much from one source._

But the days continued, the sky didn't fall, and Ginny Weasley awoke from the low-level coma Harry's Gift had knocked her into after she had inadvertently challenged it. And Ginny had been greatly changed; first by the power of Harry's Gift and then again by Cerys. She had not forgotten about the young redhead. Elani noticed a slow but steady shift in the magical patterns in her mind, but even she - a powerful and experienced Mindhealer – couldn't work out exactly what Cerys was doing. It was a subtle alteration of the hammer-blow compulsions Harry's Gift had slammed into her, but beyond that, she could not follow. But when Ginny woke, at least part of the alteration became clear. Her affections were far less...concentrated now, that much she had been able to read from her initial conversation with the youngest Weasley. She would likely always be more attracted to dark haired, green eyed men, but the quasi-obsession that she had held for Harry – a great deal of it likely no fault of her own – was gone.

She knew that there was more in there, waiting. But she had no clue what form those pieces would take. She could guess, and she _had_, but when trying to decipher the work of a being as powerful as Cerys all that one could really do was guess. But Ginny, displaying the characteristic bravery of her House, had been unwilling to sit around.

So she was back on her feet and in classes, with her teachers watching her like a hawk at Elani's direction. Poppy Pomfrey was also back on her feet – although only three people knew that she had been off of them. Elani had left the compulsion she had set on her in place, as a protection for the nurse, and had yet to find time to have a proper conversation with her about what had happened to her. Poppy _might_ have been avoiding her, though.

And so the week came to an end and the Gryffindor Quidditch Try-outs rolled by in a frigid whirlwind of September air. It took more than a few hours to weed down the dozens of hopeful candidates – there were a _lot_ of applicants this year and rather a lot of them had been preparing for Harry to attain the Captain-ship they had been certain he would. So Harry – and anyone else who might have been watching – was almost blown off of his broom by the explosion of talent that flowered into being over the afternoon. It was, almost undoubtedly, one of the hardest fought try-outs in recent history with no less than three separate test runs for each position and an entire _tournament_ of fast games.

Eventually, Harry managed to decide who he wanted on his team, working from a combination of observed skill and personality. Katie made the team again, much to her unhidden joy, together with Ginny and a previously unknown talent by the name of Demelza who pulled off a few tricks that – had he not seen them preformed – he would have denounced as flatly impossible. A quick Look gave him the answer to how she could do what she did though – low level Fetching was quite the Gift in a game like Quidditch. A part of him truly regretted the absence of Fred and George when it came to the Beater trials. He got a lot of great individuals, but no teams as effective as the Weasley Twins. So he chose as best he could, picking a slender third year called Heather whose slenderness belied her almost frightening strength, and Crispin, a wiry fourth year who stuck to his broom like nothing Harry had ever seen.

And then they came to the Keepers. Pitting each one against the active and reserve Chasers, Harry was somewhat surprised by the solid performance exhibited by Ron. In the end it won the redhead the Reserve position, but there had been little doubt after the second round over who the next Gryffindor Keeper was going to be. Harry had never even heard of Eleanor Roberts – which had been rather surprising when he learned that she was in his year. But ignoring that, she was quite possibly the most gifted Keeper he had ever seen, bar none. He'd had his doubts at first, but after she demonstrated her ability – blocking all three hoops against five Chasers and three Quaffles – Harry couldn't sign her up fast enough.

But away from her work within the school, Cerys was beginning to realise something. She needed someone outside of the DMS as a contact, maybe even as a spokesperson to the rest of the Wizarding World. The DMS, regardless of their unique position within the Ministry, was still part of it. And she wanted someone free from the conceptions that would be associated with someone from the British Wizarding Government. So she asked Alex and Annie to put together a shortlist of gifted young witches who were both smart and open-minded enough to be able to help her communicate outside of Hogwarts and work with her within. Alex almost choked when Annie brought up the matter of pay and Cerys responded by saying that she hoped that her parent's vaults would be able to cover a reasonable salary. Anne's response was probably a few _octaves_ higher than normal when she said that would probably be possible.

Cerys narrowed the shortlist down to a few particularly gifted witches, most in their early twenties and all rather...different. Eventually she decided on a Ravenclaw Transfiguration Master who had, at the age of 19, broken several conventions in the study of permanent transfiguration by accidentally – or so she said – transfiguring her collarbone out into a set of fully functional wings. Backlash from the spell also caused part of her Animagus transformation – the ears and tail of a Siberian Tiger – to become a thus far permanent part of her appearance. Her name was Cerelia Maria Erimentha and she answered Cerys's request swiftly. At her first look at the twenty-three year old, taken as she approached the gates, Cerys liked her.

* * *

**AN:** And there we have it. I'm afraid I kinda broke my promise on not adding anything else new, but at least I haven't gone into it that much – that comes next chapter. I know some of the stuff here may not make a great deal of sense and I apologise for that – what I can explain I will in due course. And if you have any questions, please drop me a line about them and I'll do my best to explain.

And specifically regarding the conversation with Dumbledore; this is a conversation in which both sides were prepared and Harry's totally outmatched in that sort of situation. The one at the start of term was actually a mistake on Albus's part. He was on the back foot and unprepared. This time he was ready, and it shows.

Many thanks once again to ShinjuKuroba for betaing this for me, you're a star.

Please leave a review on your way out. Thank you.

Wind to thy wings.


End file.
